The Disclosure and Barring Service is facing the prospect of pre-Christmas industrial action after members of the civil service's biggest union gave their backing to strikes over the organisation's new "customer contact" model.
DBS carries out background checks for employers on prospective new recruits – as well as maintaining the lists of people who are barred from working with children or adults.
The PCS union said members working for DBS in Liverpool were concerned that the organisation's new customer-contact model will require them to take incoming calls to resolve complaints that are directly routed from the organisation's main contact centre.
PCS said the new model would increase workload for "already stretched" members of DBS's complaints and complex enquiries team and was likely to negatively impact current levels of service.
The union said there were also concerns that the new model, which involves the Max Contact telephony system, would make civil servants responsible for the perceived shortcomings of staff working for Hinduja Global Solutions – the outsourced contractor for the DBS contact centre.
In recent years the operations of the DBS contact centre have been hit because of strikes on the part of HGS staff seeking better pay and conditions.
This week, PCS said that a ballot of more than 50 customer services staff working for DBS in Liverpool had found 86% in favour of strike action and 93% in favour of industrial action short of strike. Turnout was 54% – passing the threshold for any industrial action to be legal.
According to the most up-to-date DBS annual report and accounts, which cover 2022-23, the organisation had 1,075 directly-employed staff.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said the new customer-contact model – which had originally been due to go live this week – was causing staff "a lot of anxiety and stress" and had also suffered technical problems.
"Our members are unhappy at a new system that’s been introduced without consultation, forcing them to carry out work they’ve not been required to do before," she said.
"There are also issues with an outsourced contractor passing complaints about their work through to our members directly employed by DBS, which adds extra stress to their working lives.
"The employer still has time to resolve the dispute by listening to our members and addressing the problems with the new system before introducing it."
When PCS launched its DBS strike ballot last month, it said industrial action could begin as early as December and continue into the New Year if members voted in sufficient numbers.
A DBS spokesperson said the organisation had been notified of the outcome of the PCS ballot, which they described as involving "a small number of staff".
"We do not anticipate that any industrial action will cause any significant delays to the processing of DBS checks, or for customers wanting to contact DBS for support," the spokesperson said.
"Quality and continuous improvement remain at the core of what DBS does, in our products, in the services we provide, and in the decisions that we make – including the development of our enhanced customer service model."