Our vision is to be A Brilliant Civil Service, one that delivers Improved Outcomes for the public, through Effective Leaders and Skilled People, in a Great Place to Work.
As part of the wider Civil Service response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) which is part of the Home Office (HO) came together and applied all four pillars to their ways of working to meet the unprecedented increased demand in Universal Credit (UC) Applications. The co-located DWP/HMPO site in Glasgow presented an ideal opportunity to share skills and knowledge at the pace needed. Around 90 HMPO people have been supporting DWP in the following areas -
- Universal Credit (UC) National Telephony team
- Universal Credit case management
- Local Authority and landlord enquiries
This support has assisted DWP in providing vital support to people needing access to their services during this challenging time.
An innovative team worked together at local and national levels, delivered training to colleagues remotely via Skype and adhering to social distancing rules where necessary. In the first three weeks, HMPO staff answered in excess of 2500 UC calls, replied to 2000 e-mails from Landlords and Local Authorities and this month more have become case managers supporting UC claimants both in the office and on laptops at home around the country as part of a Virtual Service Centre network. Feedback from claimants has been heartening and praise for HMPO and DWP colleagues inspiring.
This is one example of the way the Civil Service has pulled together in a joint working initiative to promote “A Brilliant Civil Service” with teams demonstrating a willingness to learn new skills and a genuine desire to support our citizens. If you would like to hear more on how DWP and HMPO embarked on this task please contact Rozanne Kidd HMPO
If you have any examples of departments working together or being innovative in their approach during these unprecedented times, please remember and nominate for the monthly “A Brilliant Civil Service Awards”
To quote - Alex Chisholm, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer “The Civil Service response to the coronavirus pandemic has been “amazingly impressive”, and has required “an absolutely extraordinary effort” from the public and private sectors, as well as academia”
4 comments
Comment by Rozanne Kidd posted on
I am very proud to have been part of this cross-gov collaboration and leading a great HMPO team on this and as an Operational Delivery Professional as well.
People needed our help, people came together, people made a difference. Our Civil Service People.
a huge thank you to HMPO & DWP colleagues working hard to support UC claimants directly, and the many people involved in implementation, working so well with is in HMPO & DWP .There are I know many, many positive stories on we have all been agile to the challenge generated by Coronavirus in what is a very human crisis across all CS Local communities so I encourage others to share .
Comment by John Mark Haskey posted on
Sally Kirshaw commented
Staff in UKVI in Liverpool and Sheffield are also supporting DWP, we are training staff that have been deployed to Universal Credit to become Case Managers on secondment from their normal role and 13 of us have been trained to deliver the training. We are all proud to have been chosen to help colleagues in DWP and to serve the public helping them get the help they need.
Comment by Heather Flanagan posted on
Sally, it is great to know that the Civil Service are all pulling together at this particularly difficult time, you should be proud of what you are doing to help. Remember the Brilliant Service Awards each month.
Comment by Peter McHugh posted on
HMPO Operational Learning have collaborated with DWP. 9 Trainers working remotely from home have upskilled at pace and are delivering Case Manager Lite training to HMPO colleagues. Really proud to be a part of this worthwhile project from my wee man cave in Belfast!