Jobcentre Plus Security
There are over 1,600 security guards working at Jobcentre Plus offices all over the country costing taxpayers over £40 million per year.
What is an incident?
We will describe what the DWP sees as “physical abuse” (not all are actually assaults) and “verbal abuse“. Not all “physical abuse” relates to someone being attacked – these statistics are wrongly distorted.
Physical Abuse
Includes (but is not limited to):
- Small items thrown (but missed)
- Large items thrown (but missed)
- Spitting (but missed)
- Thumping the security screen
- Hitting and kicking furniture, slamming doors (without damage)
- Punch, headbutt, slap, or kick ( attempts (that misses) )
- Small items thrown which hits (small items = pens, paper; any impact doesn’t need to be excessively violent)
- Large items thrown which hits (furniture, chairs etc.)
- Spitting
- Struck by customer (touching, holding, punches, kicking, slapping, headbutting)
- Struck with weapon owned by customer (or presumed to be; I think it means one brought into Jobcentre)
- Struck with weapon found on premises
- Hitting and kicking furniture, slamming doors (with damage)I don’t see how and why they would allow a door being slammed to be mixed in with the “assaults”.
Sadly, this will always become a tickbox exercise…
- Someone talks in an argument and accidently some (minute amount) saliva travels through the air and hits the staff member. This is disgusting but wasn’t deliberate and shouldnt be categorised as spitting.
- Someone gets upset and throws a pen down, which bounces off the table and touches the staff members arm. Customer apologises, there was no intent of harming anyone by doing so, but gets reported as throwing a small item.
- Someone gets told they have been given a 6 month sanction but didnt receive acknowledgement in the post, goes to sign on and gets told a sanction exists. The customer kicks the chair with frustration. Causes no damage just causes some attention. is reported for “physical abuse”.