JOB CENTRES TO BE PRIVATISED

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) obtained a confidential letter from a senior official in the Department of Work Pensions to a Government minister outlining proposals to privatise the delivery of most services provided by Job Centres. The Union's General Secretary Mark Serwotka has written to Work and Pensions Secretary David Blunkett demanding an assurance that the Government was not considering the move. Mr Serwotka said privatising Job Centres was in the Conservative manifesto for the last general election and it would be "incredible" if the Labour Government was now considering the same proposal. The letter obtained by the union and marked "restricted" was sent to Work Minister Margaret Hodge.

Mr Serwotka said the revelation would create more "uncertainty and distrust" among the workforce which was already facing huge job cuts. He said, "Such a move as suggested in the restricted letter would put the profits of the few ahead of the needs of many, representing the biggest privatisation of public services ever. Not only does the privatisation of services such as job seeking and benefits run contrary to founding principles of welfare state, but it would also signal the wholesale privatisation of public services. Our sincere hope is that we will receive assurances that these plans are nothing more than pie in the sky and will be dismissed out of hand." (Source: Mail on Sunday)

Consultants hired for £60,000 to boost staff morale in Jobcentres came up with the brainwave "more pot plants and sweets." The four experts sat in huddle for 20 days, at a cost of £750 a day each, before hitting on the answer to help hard-pressed workers in Bristol. Separate teams of consultants came up with similar ideas in three other Jobcentres. The leader of the Public & Commercial Services Union blamed the trend on moves to slash 100,000 civil service jobs. He warned the cuts were already damaging services with half of calls to Jobcentre Plus offices unanswered and only one in 10 answered in the 30-second target. (Source: Daily Mirror)