Minister with responsibility for Departmental issues in DWP the Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP has recognised the contribution made by Fixed Term Employee’s and the uncertainty about present contracts. Mr. Grayling told Local MP’s in response to constituents concerns over workloads, service delivery and retention of staff that any extension will ‘depend on local circumstances, and the possibility of extension to any individual cannot be guaranteed’.
It is clear from the Ministers letter that 16,000 staff were employed in Jobcentre Plus in response to the Economic Downturn. The reasons staff were recruited on Fixed-Term contracts was because “It was expected that the increased workloads in Jobcentre Plus would be temporary and that there would be a need to reduce numbers as the growth in unemployment slowed”. Evidence within offices in Stoke on Trent and elsewhere in the country shows that this decrease in workloads has not been the case.
Customer-facing staff have been granted extensions in some areas, but the Minister advised that “Our need to keep other fixed-term appointments beyond their current end dates is currently being reviewed following the emergency budget”. The Government therefore seem unlikely to make any decisions until after the Comprehensive Spending Review to be concluded in October.
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