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Ministers at Quarry House
Maybe, just maybe, the left hand will have some inkling as to what the right hand is doing now…
Back in 2009 ish people might remember a bit of a hoohah about Mortgage Interest Relief; in the wake of the financial crisis Gordon Brown reduced the waiting period to 13 weeks. However JCP interpreted this as people who were in receipt of Income Based, rather than people who had simply claimed it and been awarded CJSA instead. Mr Brown eventually went on record to correct the misunderstanding.
Sat in my local at that time, lamenting the usual level of chaos in Govt, a familiar face who I knew worked at DWP revealed he was a guidance writer at Quarry House, and that the problem came from a complete disconnect between Quarry House and Caxton House; they didn’t really communicate. Caxton House wrote the regs and Quarry House interpreted them.
Maybe, hopefully, we might see a bit more joined up thinking.
Or am I too optimistic?
[ Edited: 29 Mar 2021 at 09:49 am by Dan Manville ]That’s going to be a more expensive refurb than Carrie expecting us to carry the can for number 10.
I used to be a regular visitor to Quarry House back in the day. It’s a place where it’s possible to get lost once you’ve gone around the first corner. Very easy to imagine how people would be lost forever to humanity merely by trying to distribute post.
Quarry House? ... I think you mean the ‘People’s Palace’ ...
... this from the Secretary of State in the Yorkshire Post:
Anyone who watched The Yorkshire Jobcentre will have seen the wonderful work of that team and their focus on the individuals who needed help from us - from 61-year-old Karen who found a job in retail thanks to support from her Work Coach Amah; to sofa-surfing Gaz who gets help from Becky and Pip to explore a job in sports coaching.
It is because of people like Amah, Becky and Pip that I call us the Department of Wonderful People. That is why I also want Quarry House to be thought as the People’s Palace, not the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, from the same article:
Our strengthened Jobs Army is taking on the baton from our amazing Jabs Army ....
... Day by day, jab by jab, job by job, we are helping get people’s lives back to normal and back into work. As we do, we are rebuilding, revitalising and regenerating our economy to build a brighter future for Britain.
More if you need it: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/why-leeds-has-been-chosen-for-dwps-official-second-headquarters-therese-coffey-3179058
There are some resemblances to the Kremlin.
It’s funny how quickly a narrative takes hold and yet how quickly you can pick up other stuff from other sources e.g. people who might be moving in there.
So, could it be that this is planned to fail? Could it be that the intent is to shift services in and give staff the option of relocation or redundancy? Could that “natural wastage” then solve a few issues for the DWP and ministers? The building itself is a horror show in terms of maintenance as I understood it. One of those places it’s easier to sell than refurb. Could it be that the refurb is really for the benefit of better effecting a sale.
So many questions?
T Could it be that the refurb is really for the benefit of better effecting a sale.
So many questions?
I doubt it. NHS commissioning services share it and I have it on good authority that they don’t think they’re going anywhere.
Bet the managers of Bromley and Notts County thought that too.
To be scrupulously fair (and deeply cynical) NHS staff always think it’s too complex or expensive to move them and it rarely is. Wonder how DWP would explain staff from Quarry scoping out other premises out on the Otley Road then?