Low morale ‘is forcing UK border staff to quit’

BORDER guards are leaving due to “abusive” conditions, a top union official said yesterday.

Lucy Moreton, general secretary of the ISU, claims Border Force suffers from low morale and high staff turnover.

She said civil servants are drafted in with just two days training to cover gaps, despite an increase in fraudulent ID cards, a migration crisis and the terror threat.

Ms Moreton said 70 per cent of recruits leave within a year because of shifts being changed without notice, meaning personal arrangements have to be altered.

Staff miss breaks and have to sit at desks for hours, the ISU boss said.

Brunt

One guard had 210 changes to shifts last year, and staff in northern France are bearing the brunt of the changes, despite 12-hour shifts before travelling back to England.

In a survey in 2015 more than a fifth wanted “to leave Border Force as soon as possible” and Ms Moreton said “it has not improved, if anything it is worse in many areas”.

She added: “It is possible to run these types of systems well and not incur these horrendous costs to staff.

“It is not to say all of these types of contract are inherently abusive. It is the way it is being applied which is abusive.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are committed to maintaining and increasing staff morale and rewarding staff for good performance.”