Keeping an eye on a company whose business is government contracts.
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
The next privatisation?
With nothing much happening as we wait for contract news, it occurs to me that the next step may well be the contracting-out of Jobcentre Plus. The JCP Support contracts would seem to pave the way for that. Any thoughts?
If Jobcentre Plus are contracted out to the private sector what will happen to the permanent Jobcentre staff who are enrolled in the Civil Service final salary pension scheme?
If they were to choose transfer to a new private employer rather than another government department, then it would have to be under a no detriment ruling i.e. the new private sector employer could not employ them on less favourable terms than they enjoyed in the civil service.
And I doubt any private sector employer, especially someone like A4e, would want to take on existing Jobcentre staff under those financial terms.
Perhaps some Jobcentre staff close to retirement would be given a financial incentive to take early retirement, with others transferring to other government departments. We are talking about an organisation that employs tens of thousands of staff.
I can see the temporary Jobcentre staff being more easily transferred to a new private sector employer.
I doubt the government have given much thought to the realities of such a huge change as this, and how it will affect tens of thousands of jobcentre staff.
i can see with the additional computerisation, with the job points (frequently not working), that soon there will be a consulation with the bean counters (accountants), and they will say automate it all, only have the staff there for x amount of calls.. a spot check.
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If Jobcentre Plus are contracted out to the private sector what will happen to the permanent Jobcentre staff who are enrolled in the Civil Service final salary pension scheme?
ReplyDeleteIf they were to choose transfer to a new private employer rather than another government department, then it would have to be under a no detriment ruling i.e. the new private sector employer could not employ them on less favourable terms than they enjoyed in the civil service.
And I doubt any private sector employer, especially someone like A4e, would want to take on existing Jobcentre staff under those financial terms.
Perhaps some Jobcentre staff close to retirement would be given a financial incentive to take early retirement, with others transferring to other government departments. We are talking about an organisation that employs tens of thousands of staff.
I can see the temporary Jobcentre staff being more easily transferred to a new private sector employer.
I doubt the government have given much thought to the realities of such a huge change as this, and how it will affect tens of thousands of jobcentre staff.
i can see with the additional computerisation, with the job points (frequently not working), that soon there will be a consulation with the bean counters (accountants), and they will say automate it all, only have the staff there for x amount of calls.. a spot check.
ReplyDeletewould be cheaper than employing all these people.