DWP Attendance Management Policy

scottygees

My wife works for DWP and has suffered with ear infections throughout the last two years. This is a huge problem as her job is manning a telephone helpline. Subsequently she is now due a written warning for her sick abscence. Just wondering now what this actually means and how it will affect her and what the next trigger points and backsliding periods are. She is going to have to go into work and the employer is going to have to start making more reasonable adjustments for her to do some sort of role other than phones in the times that she has these bouts.

Any clarificatio on the procedures from this point would be appreciated.

Googlewhacker

Are you sure there are actually other jobs that she could do when she has these problems because if there aren't the DWP don't have to make jobs up for her.

I presume she is carrying on getting tests as to why she keeps suffering from ear infections?

If she is on a written warning she would have been told how long this stays on the file for and once it elapses it elapses.

tyllwyd

If it is a repeated problem, do you think the headset might be a problem - perhaps it might help for her to have a different type, or provide wipes to clean it before and after every use, something like that?

dawyldthing

ask the doc to see if she can go to ent. I had to go before as my doc told me that normal syringing doesn't work so they had to microsyringe it out (very painful, but it did work) and with antibiotics it went away within a few weeks. I would ask for all the stuff to be steralised as that could be a major problem for it being reaccurant

Jinx

scottygees wrote: »

My wife works for DWP and has suffered with ear infections throughout the last two years. This is a huge problem as her job is manning a telephone helpline. Subsequently she is now due a written warning for her sick abscence. Just wondering now what this actually means and how it will affect her and what the next trigger points and backsliding periods are. She is going to have to go into work and the employer is going to have to start making more reasonable adjustments for her to do some sort of role other than phones in the times that she has these bouts.

Any clarificatio on the procedures from this point would be appreciated.

She should get a copy of the absence policy to see what the triggers/implications are.

I dont want to be doom n gloom but if she gets fitnotes with 'amended duties' and the DWP dont have any other jobs she can do then she may have to be at home ill which could then see her going down the route of capability issues in the longer term. She needs to get herself sorted and a visit to occupational health might be good.

supertomsk

Regarding DWP attendance management, things are getting very strict particularly in contact centres. Once a written warning is issued the next trigger is 4 days in six months. After the 6 months there is a backsliding period of 1 year which would begin at the date of the oral warning period and the trigger is 8 days. DWP is very transparent on their policy and it is freely available.
Is your partner in work or off at the moment?
Any possibility of a transfer?

This is the normal straightforward process, but as Nickybat next says it can get more involved.

NickyBat

I work for dwp but cant really answer your questions as there is a lot more info needed such as has she had an atos referral, does she work full time, has she had any previous adjustments, are the union involved.........sorry there are so many