LTB 730/16 – BT Consumer: New Jobs and Agency Conversions

No. 730/2016

13th December 2016

To: All Branches with BT members

Dear Colleague,

BT Consumer: New Jobs and Agency Conversions

After consultation with the CWU BT Consumer has confirmed that it intends to create another 500 direct labour jobs in BT Consumer. In addition, there will be another 100 jobs in a new flex centre, and 180 agency staff will be offered a BT contract.

This will further increase the proportion of direct labour jobs as we move towards the agreed 80% level in Sales and 90% in Service; and will help to ensure that 90% of calls are handled in the UK by April 2017.

The new jobs are welcome. They will help relieve the pressure on existing advisors and will assist further improvements to customer service. The announcements underline the progress the Union has made in securing permanent BT jobs since the 2015 Transformation Agreement.

The details are as follows.

500 Jobs

BT will create 500 jobs across a number of the UK sites with the biggest numbers in Swansea, Warrington, Doncaster and Accrington. The jobs will be in both sales and service positions.

It is expected that most of these jobs will be filled in the next three months, and will include any redeployees from other parts of BT and any new apprentices.

Flex Centre

BT Consumer is to set up a Flex Centre in Swansea that will create at least 100 new BT posts. This will deal with unplanned call volumes and follows on from the success of the Group Flex Centre in Belfast.

The CWU will be in discussions about the exact arrangements for the Flex Centre and the work it will undertake over the coming weeks.

Agency Conversions

BT has agreed to offer around 180 agency staff BT contracts in the service areas. The contracts will be offered to those with no live warnings at the time of joining BT and based on length of service. For this conversion exercise – Phase 9 – BT has agreed that the length of service criteria will be 17 weeks.

The largest number of offers will be made in Enniskillen, Dundee and Sandwell. Individuals in scope will be contacted directly by BT and would start their new contracts by March 2017.

Separately, BT has agreed that the standard length of service requirement for conversions will be cut from 9 to 6 months. This would apply in any future conversion exercise. As BT is using 17 weeks for Phase 9, the CWU will continue to push for further reductions in the service requirement, which was originally 104 weeks.

A copy of BT Consumer’s briefing issued today is attached for information.

Yours sincerely,

Nigel Cotgrove

Assistant Secretary