Worker reveals impact of Home Office cuts at the UK Border Agency
THE true extent of job cuts at the UK Border Agency has come to light after it was revealed staff are already leaving their posts through voluntary redundancy.
While the Home Office says around 760 jobs could be chopped under plans announced last week, the impact of the cuts is set to be much higher.
A reduction in the number of staff has been on the cards for more than a year which saw a voluntary redundancy scheme opened up to workers in Croydon.
The offer was taken up by 230 staff who left their jobs in September and October last year, and the last remaining volunteers are set to go on March 31.
One worker, who asked not to be named, says the number of job losses will have a massive impact on the quality of the service provided by the UK Border Agency, which employs 5,000 people in Croydon.
She added: "I've worked for the department for a long time and I've seen the implications on work that reducing staff can have. You end up with a backlog, especially in areas like asylum.
"I imagine it will lead to problems with the quality of decision making as well as the level of staffing numbers to make decisions."
The staff member believes the recent trouble in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya is going to result in an increase in asylum applications in the UK.
She says there will not be enough staff to deal with the number of requests.
The worker believes the departments have already been working hard to make efficiency savings which have included improvements to the computer network.
She says the latest round of job losses are a "short-sighted" way of making cuts.
"People are really upset," she added.
"A lot of them have young families and are facing redundancy. There are a lot of people who feel they've worked really hard and are being kicked in the teeth."
Hugh Ind, from the UK Border Agency, said: "We will look to retrain and redeploy staff where we can and we will consider flexible ways of working to reduce job losses."
5 Comments
by Mike, Crawley
Friday, March 18 2011, 1:09PM
“Sorry to hear about your dolly, Miss Polly :-(”
by MissPolly10, Croydon
Thursday, March 17 2011, 5:31PM
“Negative
I happen to be one of those PSW you so strongly object to. Well, I strongly object to your comment.
It is clear you have never worked for the government, in any way shape or form and I¿d bet it is you who doesn¿t know you are born.
Especially, if you happen to be one of those people, my income tax payments are paying for.
By the way, your chosen name suites you well.”
by K, Croydon
Wednesday, March 16 2011, 2:18PM
“No way! I cannot believe I am reading this! There are some people who work for the Home Office that simply aren't fit to clean boots let alone make a decision concerning somebody's life but no way are they mollycoddled.
Some of the work expected is way beyond what you might get from the private sector and while I accept there are loads of benefits working for the Home Office there is also some really deep pitfalls. There is loads of red tape and some times it's not all it is made out to be by the press.
Redundancy is nightmare regardless of whether you work for the public sector or in the private sector and there is going to be implications and it's about pointing that out. It's not about obtaining sympathy we all knew this was going to happen but it's astonishing that people's views of the public sector are so jaded.”
by Jason, Croydon
Wednesday, March 16 2011, 8:27AM
“Harsh, but I'm inclined to agree with Negative. The public sector are so mollycoddled by unions that even a minor criticism from a manager can lead to an employee registering a complaint.
Redundancy is a fact of working life at this present time. I for one think that the whole of Lunar House should be shut down in the hope that unwelcome asylum seekers will no longer target Croydon, even the UK to settle. However, until our famous level of tolerance is tightened up, the already overcrowded UK will remain a laughing stock to the rest of the world.”
by Negative, Kroydonistan
Wednesday, March 16 2011, 7:07AM
“Who cares? More public sector workers who don't know they're born. They wouldn't know a hard day's work if it slapped them in the face!”