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Security screens in benefit offices.

05:55 / 29.01.02

In December 2001 benefits office workers went on strike to protest againt the removal of security screens to separate them from claimants.
This touches on areas already discussed in a headshop thread. How do you feel about this?

[ 29-01-2002: Message edited by: Buk ]

06:11 / 29.01.02

i used to work in the pay section for london benefits office staff (not in a dss office), i was active in the union and for a time compiled files on staff assaults. the general opinion of those on the 'front line' was that they didn't want screens if they could possibly survive without them but the assaults - from having bags of urine and chairs thrown at them to being beaten up - often made it unrealistic not to.

it's not a pleasant job. i did meet workers who described all claimants as 'scum' but for the most part they seemed to want to do the best they could for claimants. keeping screens does, i suppose, send various messages to claimants. but i think they are a necessary evil.

06:18 / 29.01.02

Yeah, I would agree with you SFD. I think the idea is to combine jobcentres and benefit offices. Which seems like a good idea. Save costs, bit handier for everyone.
However, if we don't treat people in a decent manner how can we expect them to act in one? Or is that too simplistic?

06:37 / 29.01.02

buk - i agree with your theory, but unfortunately it doesn't always work. some of the staff who are attacked may be ones who deal with people badly, but i expect many are not.

example: a ticket inspector on the bus the other day politely asked to see passes and tickets. a woman was very aggressive towards him, for no reason that i could see except that she was unpleasant. this is not an uncommon experience - i've seen conductors regularly treated like shit just for doing their job. nurses and porters in hospitals are also physically attacked on a regular basis.

claiming benefits is horrible. you spend hours sometimes waiting to be interviewed, the atmosphere and process can make anyone feel angry and pissed off. if you are really desperate for money then you are under serious pressure. add to that the people with various problems who are going to be in that enviroment (my local office has a bunch of drunken men outside all the time and even walking past is worrying because they are sometimes abusive) and you have to understand that the staff need to feel and be safe.

i wish it wasn't like that. most people would respond positively to screens being down and being treated with some respect, but a sizeable minority make such a thing unsafe.

10:18 / 29.01.02

I remember this being an issue in the last GP surgery I did a weekly clinic at. They'd moved into a new, architect-designed all-singing all-dancing building - and, after much debate, they'd opted to get rid of the screens between receptionists and waiting room.

Quite a brave move, since this was a really rough area of Edinburgh with the highest ratio of a) drug-users on methadone substitution and b) referrals to the psychiatric services (which was why I was doing a clinic there). In place of screens, they opted for a slightly higher, slightly wider closed counter - which backed onto the open-plan office which was the hub of the place. Deceptively difficult for anyone to actually vault the counter, and plenty of staff on hand if they did.

Two years on, there's a slight but noticeable drop in the number of physical and verbal assaults on staff. Patients reported being happier with no screens, and there was certainly a more open, friendly feel to the place.