We regularly meet to talk about your concerns with your Directors and Executive District Director at the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) . The quarterly JCC was held Thursday 5 December 2024 for the Western Sydney and Nepean Blue Mountains and was attended by the PSA, your Delegates and the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) leadership.

Union-busting

Since the PSA Day of Action and half-day strike there have been tensions in the workplace between active PSA members and Delegates, and management. DCJ advised it is supportive of the PSA and the work we do and that this support would be relayed to management within the district.

Local recruitment

The PSA raised inconsistent practices to filling vacant roles and a feeling among the membership that the goal posts continue to shift to make way for preferred candidates. Talent Pools are often not utilised and give staff false hope. We prefer an open Expression of Interest (EOI) process, as this provides the opportunity for constructive development and career progression conversations outside of Personal Development Plans. DCJ acknowledged the issues raised, Western Sydney (WS) DCS will look to provide something in the admin space in line with what is offered for emerging leaders.

We also raised a possible privacy concern, where resumes for internal EOIs with potentially confidential information are being sent to local staff to hold. The PSA suggested the best practice approach would be for these details to be held by Human Resources. WS DCS will consult with Human Resources on this.

Support for CALD staff whilst doing CDP

NSW is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) states in the world, yet CALD staff completing the Caseworker Development Program (CDP) are not being given the adequate support to complete the program and support the diverse needs of children in NSW. Sarah Bramwell advised that is a known issue and that the program is being redesigned to provide staff with English as a second language the required support.

Casework Support Permanency/OOHC team changes

Since clarification that Casework Support (CWS) is for Permanency work and not to be used in Out of Home Care (OOHC), the district now needs to realign Casework Support staff and for some this is a significant change. The PSA raised concerns with the change management approach, specifically communication to staff. DCJ acknowledged this could have been better, Megan Beckett advised she is happy to talk with anyone that is impacted and has concerns.

Overspill of OOHC admin

Due to the above, admin have been advised they will take on uncompleted tasks for OOHC. PSA advised that current workloads need to be considered and that directed tasks need to reflect the admin role description.

Late Care pathways and SDMAC Panels

PSA Delegates raised that these panels often take place late in the afternoon, related work often needs to be undertaken late in the day regularly pushing caseworkers into overtime. Parallel planning and prioritising family placements have been raised before at a district level and NBM are changing the time for SDMAC to earlier in the day (where possible). Same concerns were raised by the High-Cost Emergency Arrangements team.

Executives shared that this is an ongoing conversation and a topic for the next executive meeting, PSA will receive an update on this matter at the next JCC in the new year.

Overtime

The PSA raised concerns that while response teams regularly work after hours, requests for overtime are often met with hostility or indifference and can take months to follow on. Delegates raised that where Caseworkers are removing a child, their primary concern in that moment is not to text their manager to clarify that they are going into overtime.

DCJ advised that staff must manage their own hours and utilised flexible starting and finishing times to self-manage their hours of work. The PSA is concerned that management are only seeing flex sheets at the end of a settlement period when they are being signed off, and that there is no opportunity for managers to manage staffs’ excessive hours (and workload) if they are not seeing the hours worked during the settlement period. DCJ advised they would clarify where flex sheets should be stored and communicate to managers the proper processes in relation to flex sheets and overtime.

Accommodation

Staff from the Family Violence Unit were working out of Mount Druitt Community Services Centre. We were advised that repairs were ongoing, and that a final risk assessment would be completed before staff are directed back to the site, which we have been advised has occurred and staff are now back on site.

That was the final Western Sydney & Nepean Blue Mountains JCC for the year. Meetings will resume in early 2025. A special thank you to PSA Delegates for their time and valuable contributions to these meetings.