DWP boss dismisses union warning of mental ill-health ‘epidemic’ and staffing crisis

The head of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has dismissed evidence from scores of his own employees that his department is experiencing a “staffing crisis” and a “mental ill-health epidemic”.

The “devastating” dossier was compiled by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which said last month that its evidence showed DWP was “a failing organisation in a state of crisis”, after its members reported benefit claimants in vulnerable situations “falling through the gaps” in the system.

The union pointed to serious understaffing across the department, a failure to recruit and retain staff, poor working conditions and low pay, and it warned that DWP was currently running at 30,000 below required staffing levels.

The PCS dossier contained multiple warnings that the staffing problems within DWP, and the way the department was being run, could drastically affect disabled claimants, and in fact already had.

Many PCS members spoke of their “unsustainable” workload and the stress and depression they now experienced because of these staffing issues.

The dossier – containing a sample of more than 250 pieces of evidence collected from members who work within the department – was handed to DWP’s permanent secretary Peter Schofield.

Yesterday, Schofield was asked about the PCS dossier* by the chair of the Commons work and pensions committee, Labour’s Sir Stephen Timms, who said PCS had warned of “an epidemic of mental ill health among staff”.

Schofield said the department was “always concerned to read that and to hear that” and had “ongoing dialogue” with the unions representing DWP workers, and that he and his colleagues “often pay tribute to our trades unions because often they are a very good way of helping us know how our people are feeling” and “enabling us to put things right”.

But he said DWP was “doing a lot of recruitment” and he claimed that the “overall perception of workload seems to be more positive this year than last year”.

He said the department’s annual survey showed the proportion of its staff who said they had an acceptable workload “went up a little bit compared to the year before” and compared favourably with the government’s other “big operational departments”.

He added: “So I’m not complacent about it because I think this is a good opportunity for us to learn and see what we need to do differently.

“But the overall picture is one of things [seeming] to be better this year than they were last year.”

His colleague, Katie Farrington, DWP’s director-general for disability, health and pensions, pointed out that about 25 per cent of DWP’s staff “have health conditions and disabilities”, which is higher than the proportion in the general population.

*Listen from 11.39am onwards

A note from the editor:

Please consider making a voluntary financial contribution to support the work of DNS and allow it to continue producing independent, carefully-researched news stories that focus on the lives and rights of disabled people and their user-led organisations.

Please do not contribute if you cannot afford to do so, and please note that DNS is not a charity. It is run and owned by disabled journalist John Pring and has been from its launch in April 2009.

Thank you for anything you can do to support the work of DNS…