On Monday 5th July 2021, the Prime Minister announced the relaxation of Covid restrictions in England. At first the message was that there would be an end to all restrictions in England but since then, the government has rolled back on some of those relaxations as a response to widespread public concerns. Nevertheless the message for workers in England is clear – you are expected to return to the office.
The devolved governments are responsible for setting their own policy for addressing the pandemic. Holyrood has generally taken a more cautious approach to that seen in Westminster and that is what we have seen again this time, although Holyrood has chosen to introduce some relaxations on a roughly similar timescale. The Senedd’s approach has been much similar to Westminster to the extent they could and have been accused of “riding the coat tails” of Westminster. But currently the Senedd is taking a more cautious approach, similar to the one being taken in Scotland, and have announced the retention of some safety measures like face coverings in public areas and continuation of the message to work from home wherever possible. This means that although the immediate response is that this is an English problem, in practice members throughout the U.K. will feel the impact over the next few weeks.
After the PM’s announcement, Jim Harra published a message on the Intranet that all HMRC offices in England would be open to staff from Monday 19th of July 2021. The original message gave a strong impression that staff would have to return to offices. A week later, after the UK Government was retreating from its original announcement, Jim Harra put out a second Intranet message in much more couched language, suggesting that staff would return to the office if they chose too.
Both announcements made reference to the right of staff to work from home for two days per week and that staff who choose to go into the office should continue to make use of that. That’s a great headline but the reality for many staff is that home working is still a privilege or even just an aspiration. There are all too common stories of part time staff being told the two days is pro rata for them, with barriers being introduced such as the need to undertake their full range of duties at home. Many staff are finding that the two days on offer is seen by their management chain as a maximum rather than a minimum.
To date the R&C Group Executive Committee (GEC) has been quick to say that these issues shouldn’t happen and to ask for the examples to raise in negotiations. This is small consolation for the members being given the message by their manager or the local branches finding themselves essentially sidelined and turned into a glorified mailbox for the GEC. This is made worse by the fact that the GEC is struggling to force the department to honour an agreement to allow staff to work from home for at least two days per week, when the bulk of HMRC staff have already demonstrated that they can perform their full range of duties at home for five days per week.
It is also worth noting that both Intranet announcements made reference to the fact there are different rules in the devolved governments. This reveals a view in the senior parts of HMRC that the Westminster position is the default or correct position and that the policies set by the devolved governments are somehow a deviation from that. They need to be seen as policies of equal importance to those developed in Westminster. This is clearly a problematic attitude that the GEC will need to get to grips with and fully address in the future.
GEC response doesn’t go far enough
Following the second Intranet message, PCS issued a members’ bulletin setting out the PCS stance. Broad Left Network members in HMRC welcome the PCS position that no member should be forced to return to the office at this stage. Covid cases are rising significantly due to the Delta variant, although hospital admissions and Covid-related deaths remain thankfully low in comparison to previous waves. However the impact of Covid has been shown to be debilitating with a range of long term conditions being grouped and given the name “Long Covid.” Long Covid is still very poorly understood, but its impact on its unfortunate sufferers has been devastating. Any increase in Covid cases will inevitably result in an increase in Long Covid cases. The evidence is clear that this is still a dangerous pandemic and generally the safest place for our members is at home.
Broad Left Network members are concerned that the PCS position doesn’t go far enough in protecting our members. We know that the heavily stats-driven areas, like the Customer Services Group, have been pressurising members to return to the office on the basis of under-performance, for example, where a member is unable to perform the full range of normal duties at home or where their manager feels they are not doing enough at home. This issue predates the current situation but to date it hasn’t been adequately addressed by PCS.
A newer and potentially more damaging development comes from HMRC’s Building Our Future (BOF) programme. This pandemic hasn’t stopped HMRC’s drive to shut offices and move staff into regional centres. This new relaxation of restrictions will more or less coincide with the opening of some regional centres.
Members who will be working in these new regional centres are being told they must attend a physical induction at their new office. Managers have been told to book all such staff on to induction events which take place when their team will be moved into that regional centre. This means that thousands of our members will be attending a new office at a time when the PCS position is that it’s too soon for a mass return to offices and that it should be the individual’s choice to return to a office. Let’s not forget too that the regional centres have all been placed in densely-populated, urban locations, meaning the vast majority of people in those offices will need to use public transport.
No matter how many measures are implemented in offices (more regular and thorough cleaning, social distancing, etc), no office can be completely safe. We also have members at risk of catching Covid on public transport and there’s nothing the employer can do to control that risk. The appropriate way to mitigate the risk is to ensure that our members aren’t put in that situation in the first place, which means maintaining home working.
Member safety must be paramount
The BOF programme may significantly undermine PCS’s position and yet this hasn’t been addressed in the recent members’ bulletin. Broad Left Network members call on the GEC to issue a clear statement that no member should attend a physical induction until they have had a meeting with their manager and furthermore, where that member has taken the personal decision that they feel safe to attend an office.
The R&C GEC should make demands that HMRC protect its workforce and the public by:
* No forced return to the workplace. Any return and on what basis only in agreement with the union
* Full safety measures to protect all members at home and in the workplace including supportive measures on mental health and stress
* Services to the public should continue to be delivered remotely as far as possible
Where work does need to be done in the workplace the R&C GEC must demand:
* Full risk assessment done with the union health and safety reps
* Keep all safety measures in place to stop onward transmission of covid in the workplace
* Minimise staffing levels to only levels to deliver essential work that cannot be done from home.
* Keep 2m social distancing at all times between everyone
* Additional cleaning of all touchpoint surfaces regularly through the day
* Ensure all indoor spaces are well ventilated with fresh air throughout the day
* Face coverings to be worn in all public spaces
* Flexibility for workers to travel when it is quietest
* Individual risk assessments for workers who are even more at risk with underlying health conditions, clinically extremely vulnerable workers and black workers. And for those not yet vaccinated.
* Full pay for all workers who need to self-isolate
* No use of sickness absence procedures to penalise those self-isolating
* No use of quick lateral flow tests to reduce self-isolation time
* Full support and reasonable adjustments for workers suffering from long covid
* Support transport unions’ demands for face coverings and social distancing to remain on public transport
PCS Broad Left Network 