Category: News

Non UNISON news

Meanwhile back in the real world #4 : “Our Pension Health check offer”

Local, News, Report, UNISON Campaign

Barnet UNISON are able to help with

  • Understanding the Local Government Pensions
  • Understanding Annual Benefit Statements
  • Checking the Annual Benefit Statements
  • Checking pension calculations if you are retiring

Our Offer

  • consultation meeting on Local Government Pensions
  • Workplace seminars on Local Government Pensions

To book a 1 to 1 meeting or a work place seminar speak to your local rep or contact the branch office on 0208 359 2088 or email contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

Meanwhile back in the real world #3 : “Appraisal payments update 2”

Austerity, Local, News, Report, UNISON Campaign

Just a quick update.

Barnet UNISON met with the Chief Executive to seek assurances that the payments would be paid as they are contractual and Barnet UNISON has no hesitation in escalating if there are any lengthy delays.

The meeting ended with a commitment that they hoped payments would be paid in August subject to making the payroll deadlines.

However, until the payments are made this is a standing item with Barnet UNISON and will be part of our discussions with our members in our September meetings details of which are below.

Barnet House

  • Wednesday 5 September, 12 noon, Committee room 2
  • Wednesday 12 September, 12.30 pm, Committee room 1
  • Friday 21 September, 12.30 pm, Committee room 1
  • Thursday 27 September, 12.30 pm, Committee room 2

NLBP

  • Thursday 6 September, 12.30 pm, Building 4, Central room
  • Friday 14 September, 1 pm, Building 4, Central room
  • Thursday 20 September, 12.30 pm, Building 2, G2 room
  • Tuesday 25 September, 1 pm, Building 4, Central room

However, if you need some advice or a meeting with a Barnet UNISON rep please contact the office on 0208 359 2088 or email contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

 

Meanwhile back in the real world #2 : “Taxing the sick update 2”

Austerity, H&S, Local, News, Report, Trades Dispute, UNISON Campaign

Barnet Council are in a serious financial crisis and are in talks with Capita as to how many services will have to be come back in-house. Staff are already worried with having to cope with more work and less resources without the added stress that the Council may start making mass redundancies in a bid to make more cuts.

It is therefore deeply troubling that the Council have announced that they want to consult on a proposal to deduct pay from staff off sick from work.

From the brief consultation we have had so far it is already very clear that the sickness levels are high with staff with serious illnesses such as cancer, strokes etc. hence we are calling the proposal “Taxing the sick”.

In September 2018 we are going to be consulting with our members on this proposal.

There will be opportunities to discuss the proposal with local reps at a number of Barnet UNISON meetings in September.

Barnet House

  • Wednesday 5 September, 12 noon, Committee room 2
  • Wednesday 12 September, 12.30 pm, Committee room 1
  • Friday 21 September, 12.30 pm, Committee room 1
  • Thursday 27 September, 12.30 pm, Committee room 2

NLBP

  • Thursday 6 September, 12.30 pm, Building 4, Central room
  • Friday 14 September, 1 pm, Building 4, Central room
  • Thursday 20 September, 12.30 pm, Building 2, G2 room
  • Tuesday 25 September, 1 pm, Building 4, Central room

However, if you need some advice or a meeting with a Barnet UNISON rep please contact the office on 0208 359 2088 or email contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

Meanwhile back in the real world #1: “Don’t blame our members.”

Austerity, Local, News, Report, Trades Dispute

This is a plea to Barnet residents not to take out their understandable frustration on our members working in Street Scene when their bins are not being taken away or their street cleaned.

For the past 12 months the work force has been squeezed whilst at the same time more flats are being built without any thought that more resources are badly needed to take away the increasing amount of waste and recycling and litter.

It is now well documented that Barnet Council is in a serious financial crisis, week after week the impact of senior management decisions are now being felt in Street Scene services. Cuts backs on staff and overtime cuts for street cleansing, inevitably means work will not be done.

We are getting regular feedback from our members that the public are furious when their bins are not collected or that litter is not being taken away on time.

Our members are proud to work for Barnet and frustrated that resources needed are not being provided.

If you are unhappy with the service please contact Street-based services (Including rubbish collection, potholes or graffiti) on Tel: 020 8359 4600 or Tel: 020 8359 2000.

For details on the current financial crisis click on an earlier post https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2018/06/08/fundingcrisis-at-barnet-council/ and here http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/16284942.Council_taking_urgent_action_as_budget_gap_soars/

“Both #Capita contracts are now on the menu”

Austerity, Local, News, Report, Solidarity

Attention: All Barnet UNISON Capita members

On Thursday 19 July 2018 Barnet Council Policy and Resources Committee agreed that Options 2 and 3 will be tested in a full business case. This mean all staff working on both Capita contracts are now included in the options.

The full business case will be presented to a committee in the Autumn.

In the meantime Barnet UNISON will be hosting meetings in Barnet House and NLBP for our members in September 2018.

However, if you need some advice or a meeting with a Barnet UNISON rep please contact the office on 0208 359 2088 or email contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

 

 

 

“Our members need water!”

Austerity, Local, News, Solidarity

“UK weather forecast: Temperatures ‘could break UK record’ as pollution alerts issued in London”

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/temperatures-could-break-uk-record-as-pollution-alerts-issued-in-london-a3896566.html

Spare a thought for all workers who are currently working outside.

In Barnet Council we have a large workforce who work outside.

Bin workers, Street Cleansing, Parks are but a few of the services provided by Barnet Council to the residents.

We are proud of our members who have had to cope with relentless cuts to the size of the workforce at a time when new housing developments are springing up everywhere.

Our members had a difficult time during the winter weather, but the current heatwave is presenting a serious threat to their health and wellbeing.

This is London.

We all know there are serious air pollution issues in London. The long term exposure to air pollution will undoubtedly have an impact on workers who work outside.

It is therefore a surprise that when Barnet UNISON requested that staff are readily supplied with water and sun block to help prevent heat exhaustion, it was turned down.

This is even more difficult to understand when we are being told temperatures could reach 37C.

Our members are working with less staff but far more work as Barnet continues to grow.

Our own members are equally upset to see an increase in fly tipping and bins uncollected. But they are not the decision makers. They are not the people making cuts to services.

Barnet UNISON is now taking this matter up with our Chief Executive as we fear for the safety of our members.

We will update our members as we have more information.

‘Taxing the Sick’: Barnet Council Sick Pay deductions consultation begins

Austerity, Local, News, Report, Trades Dispute, UNISON Campaign

Barnet UNISON has been formally notified by Barnet Council of it’s intention to consult on whether to impose what we are calling a ‘tax on the sick’. It is important for all Barnet UNISON members that we~ reject the proposal. However, the Council is insistent that it wants to commence consultation before coming to a decision later in the year.

37% of sickness is short term sickness

63% of sickness is long term sickness.

This means that those with serious health conditions such as stress, cancer, strokes etc are being targeted by our Council as their time off work is contributing to the high sickness levels.

It is Barnet UNISON’s view that this is both discriminatory and unacceptable.

Furthermore we have serious concerns about the process for staff with long term health conditions to be able to access ill health retirement options. Before Capita took over this service we had hardly any complaints about the occupational health service provided by a local GP based in Barnet. Now it is a private company and is causing widespread problems across all in-house services. It is important that for those trying to come to terms with long term health issues that they should be treated with dignity and respect. They do not need ongoing delays to a process which is not complicated. In our view a new local occupational health provider should be given a contract to see how they impact on the length of delays for those off sick still waiting for a decision.

As part of this consultation we have asked for a breakdown of the types of medical conditions for both short and long term sickness reporting.

We have also requested for a breakdown of return to work meetings as we are hearing across some services they are either not happening or sporadically. It is important that when someone is off sick that they have their one to one meeting.

We are also asking for a breakdown of sickness meetings in order to understand how frequent they are taking place across the services.

It’s important that staff understand that the Council has a duty of care towards their staff. If someone is off sick it is critical that the Council has used meetings with staff to understand why someone is off sick.

What happens next?

We will continue to update our members on the consultation and towards the end we will conduct an indicative strike ballot as we believe that this proposal to ‘tax the sick’ must be dropped. We need to hear directly from our members as to what they think of this proposal. Keep a lookout for our weekly eNEWS and any email/text messages from our branch office.

Barnet UNISON has produced a number of flyers which members can download or share with work colleagues here

2018.07.16. SICK PAY leaflet v1

2018.07.16. SICK PAY leaflet v2

2018.07.16. SICK PAY leaflet v3

2018.07.16. SICK PAY leaflet v4

If you have any questions please contact the Barnet UNISON office on 0208 359 2088 or email contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

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How can Barnet Council even think of allowing Capita to run our IT services after this?

Austerity, Local, News, Report

“The council went live with a new adult social care case management system (Mosaic) in April 2017. The implementation has involved significant issues which have critically affected the system’s performance.

Improvements have been made to the system since go-live but there are still significant issues. These have an impact on financial monitoring, performance reporting and operational effectiveness, including the ability to efficiently bill clients and pay invoices.

Mitigations are in place to manage the risks and issues.

Resolving these problems has had both operational and commercial consequences. It is proposed that an audit lessons learned exercise is now undertaken and the findings are reported to Audit Committee. The commercial teams of the council and Capita have agreed to the principle that the most effective way to deliver a fit for purpose system is for the council to engage with an alternative provider to undertake the rest of the required implementation work. This paper seeks authorisation to procure a new delivery partner to complete the delivery of a fit for purpose case management system for adult social care in Barnet, and the allocation of a capital budget to enable the procurement to commence, whilst the process to agree commercial liability with Capita concludes.”

“That the Policy and Resources Committee approves a procurement exercise to the

value of up to £3m.”

Read on

“If the Committee approves the recommendations in this paper, the following

activity will be undertaken to implement the decision:

A written agreement between Capita and the council will be drawn up to agree how the council and Capita will engage with a new third-party provider to successfully deliver the Mosaic system implementation, while the Capita team withdraw from the delivery of the programme;

A specification will be finalised and a procurement will be undertaken to award a contract to a new provider; and

The activity which will follow will be mobilisation of a new third-party provider and a period of handover between Capita and new third-party provider.”

Serious questions must be asked for example

“Who pays for the procurement and the new contract and wasted officer hours securing a new service provider?

“How can Barnet Council continue to support Option 2 which seeks to keep Capita delivering IT services?

Read full report of the failure here http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s47255/Case%20Management%20System.pdf

 

 

 

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