People Power – Sheltered Housing?

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“We’ll begin a massive redistribution of power in our country from the powerful to the powerless – from the political elite to the man and woman in the street.”

“They are furious and finally demanding big change. I’m making clear that big change and a new politics is exactly what people can expect from a new Conservative government.”

David Cameron (26 May 2009)

Sheltered Housing residents have spoken. Will the Council listen to the man and woman in Barnet streets?

Sheltered Housing – the end of an era?

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Reading the report going to Cabinet Committee

http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=8162

I was struck by the numbers of responses. Clearly this issue has been taken up by residents, relatives, providers and the community. The question of whether services are being targeted to those in need was lost when the proposal was presented as a budget cut.

What we can see in the report is the strength of feeling about the proposal. I have copied a section near the end of the Council report which details the concerns. Reading them it is hard to see how they could be disregarded. Residents are afraid and it is not clear from the report how this fear is going to be addressed.

The Main Issues and Concerns Raised 

Loss of Scheme Manager Service

  • Security
  • Safety
  • Having to rely on alarm service
  • Community and social life
  • Individual emotional support and pastoral care
  • Loss of Scheme Managers knowledge of residents and their situations
  • Support planning
  • Health emergencies
  • Disabled, older or frail residents need consistent support by someone they know and trust
  • No monitoring or preventative work carried out
  • Maintenance and repairs – support in reporting/chasing up/allowing access
  • Practical problems – lost keys, residents stuck in lifts etc
  • Health and safety issues
  • Liaising with and monitoring other services
  • Will lead to strain on residents if younger/fitter have to help others, inappropriate as not trained 

Floating Support

  • Lack of operational detail, unconvinced it will work
  • Inappropriate – adds to security concerns
  • No social or community aspect – isolation will increase
  • Difficulty accessing by phone
  • Cannot cope with high levels of need/chronic conditions/dementia
  • Is the funding enough to cover all needs?

Alarm Service  

  • What will happen about communal areas if assessed individually?
  • Cannot respond as promptly as on site staff
  • Slow response

No longer Sheltered Housing

  • Younger people moving in
  • Potential for ASB and other crime – less secure and easily identified as scheme housing some vulnerable older people

Effect on Other Services

  • Increased demand so longer waiting times and higher costs
  • More bed blocking and demand for residential and nursing homes

Longer Term

  • Planned move into sheltered as long term solution, needs will not be met
  • Older people in community will have no incentive to give up larger properties
  • Funding for Floating support being cut

Reasons for and Context of Residents Views
Many of the reasons for and justifications of residents’ views are reflected elsewhere in the report but can be summarised as follows. 

  • Sheltered housing currently provides a cost effective service that is highly valued, the proposals would effectively end that.
  • The security and safety of a vulnerable group will be compromised.
  • The assessment process meant the vast majority of residents had identified support needs when they entered sheltered housing, these have not reduced but rather have grown so sheltered housing is sustaining the oldest and frailest people partly as a result of this, there is no evidence the support is not wanted or needed.
  • Sheltered housing meets both general and specific needs e.g. language, cultural and religious, disability and ill health.
  • Staff have invaluable knowledge of residents and are trusted by them, cannot be replicated by Floating Support.
  • Many examples of a responsive on site service assisting promptly with illness, falls and other emergencies whereas delays were anticipated re alarm service response.
  • The preventative role will be lost, the social and community life will suffer and this is often important in maintaining health and well being. Daily checks help pick up signs of ill health or deterioration that residents themselves may not be aware of.
  • Services can be delivered/monitored effectively as there is a concentration of older people
  • Lack of evidence that Floating Support works, those whose needs are too great currently referred by Floating Support to sheltered housing
  • Independence can be maintained with low level but consistent support and prevents the use of more expensive residential care
  • Reasonable expectations and contractual obligations to continue the service will be broken. This point was emphasised by residents who had freed up large accommodation to move into sheltered accommodation for support.

Despite the attempts of the report to try to address some of the concerns rasied in the consultation it is clear from above that residents/relatives don’t believe it will deliver.

When a report has been published it usually means the decision has been made and it is a rubber stamp exercise.

However……………………………….…

Residents/relatives will be attending the Cabinet Committee, maybe …just maybe members of Cabinet may reconsider. It would be a revelation…….never happened before…… but when politicians ask the community for their view …sometimes…they hold up their hands and recognise they got it wrong……..could this happen on Monday night?

Will Barnet be the first?

Feedback on our meeting with Councillors on Tuesday 2 June

Local

At our meeting we told Councillors that our exclusion from the Future Shape Groups meant we were not able to take part in the consultation. Last September we identified key issues for our members e.g. Pay, annual leave and Pensions, but to date these issues were not viewed as a priority at this stage. We have asked that the Trade Unions need to be fully involved in a future discussions about the Future of Council Services. We were informed a Future Shape report had been agreed at Corporate Directors Group, and a copy would be shared with the Trade Unions once more data had been added from the consultants.  

As for the final Future Shape report for the 6 July Cabinet Committee we will be given the report once it has been signed off by the Lead Cabinet member.  

Speculation in the NLBP village on what maybe being recommended is rife and understandable. I want to draw your attention to the 15 June Cabinet Resources Committee.  Section 3.2 says

“The service provided by the in-house Legal Service is in high demand to deliver on the Council’s priorities. Moving to the Council’s ‘Future Shape’ will involve additional and extensive legal input.”

Full report click here  

It is understandable that if there is going to be major change you will need a good legal team. It is interesting but not unexpected to see other Councils are also already making plans

“Currently, the “Consortium Councils” are the London Boroughs of Barnet, Bexley, Bromley, Havering, Hillingdon, Merton, Redbridge and Sutton.”

The Trade Unions need to examine the Tenderers’ Scores; it is interesting to see Essex County Council put in a tender.

“Which firm of solicitors were the successful bidders?”

Unfortunately this information is in the Exempt report, once it is approved at the committee the name of the firm will be made public.   

Back to Future Shape:

“Does this appointment of a panel of solicitors give an indication as to what we should expect in the Future Shape Cabinet Report 6 July?”  

I suppose we will have to wait for the report.

STOP the BNP

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Dave Prentis, general secretary

It is crucial that members turn out and vote in the local and European elections this week. The BNP are peddling their politics of hate, and mobilising all their forces to take advantage of voter apathy, disillusionment and fear. 

Do not let the BNP gain ground through the recession by exploiting people’s fears over jobs or because of the row over MPs’ expenses.  

As public sector workers and service users we know that without the dedicated service of migrant workers many hospitals, schools and local government services would grind to a halt. We must work together to find a way out of the current financial crisis.  

Make your voice heard on 4 June – get out and vote. 

Take action to stop the BNP

Barnet’s Got Talent!

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We may not have Susan Boyle working for Barnet but we do have talented staff. Whilst we wait for news on what Future Shape will mean for staff and public services I hope staff will be given the opportunity to contribute to any Future changes.  

 

Some Good News

 

Those of you who have had the time to look at the Future Shape website will have noticed the term ‘Quick Win’ on a number of slides. I believe the term ‘Quick Win’ has been acknowledged as an inappropriate term conveying a negative message.

 

Where is the good new news?

If and when services are packaged together they need to go through a robust process before any decisions are made.

 

Cemeteries and Crematorium services were put down as a ‘Quick win’ a Consultants report recommended the privatisation option. The Trade Unions produced a report which raised concerns about the process & recommendations in the report. I am pleased to report the service is going through the correct process. The Trade Unions and the staff are now part of the process. This is key.

 

Back to Future Shape, it is important that staff don’t panic if they see their service being packaged up for a possible privatisation model. There is still a great deal of work which would need to take place before any decisions about moving forward to a procurement including if an in house bid would be included.

 

From the little that is being made available the Seven Groups reflect the complexity of the problem facing Public Services across Barnet. It is important that decisions are not rushed which is why the Trade Unions are confused why there are different completion timescales for the Groups which are clearly interlinked.

To visualise the complexity we have constructed a diagram.

To view image click here http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/Future_Shape_jenga1.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

Barnet Community Campaign organise lobby with Local residents

Local

This evening approximately 100 Barnet residents took up their democratic right to protest against the budget proposal to delete the sheltered housing service.

Feelings are strong on this issue. In a time when ‘apathy rules’ it is good to see that people feel able to take up this issue. It was a major effort for most of the residents who turned up with walking sticks, zimmer frames, wheelchairs. Service users, relatives and friends have made an extraordinary effort to save the service.

Consultation has taken place. I hope the views have been taken on board. I don’t think anyone would disagree that we should be ensuring the vulnerable are fully supported.

We won’t know until Cabinet meet on 8 June what the decision is, I am sure there will be a lobby of the meeting and residents will want to sit in to hear the decision.

At a time when public confidence in politicians both local and national is at an all time low… it would be a significant sign to the electorate that sometimes the voices of the community are heard and solutions found.

Here are some pictures of the lobby

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28819825@N02/sets/72157618490276622/

Barnet UNISON supporting members in Schools

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Nursery Nurses
Negotiations on re-grading for Nursery Nurses are still ongoing. We are awaiting confirmation of the offer before conducting a consultation ballot of our members.

Cover arrangement in schools
Guidance is now out called ‘Rarely cover implementation process’ To view this online click here

Cover is probably one of the biggest issues for support staff. It always seems to be our members who are asked to take on extra duties and not receive the correct grade for the work. Your excellent work is recognised, it is just a shame when we want staff to be paid for this work the same old lines roll out ‘…cuts to the budget, posts will have to go…’

National Negotiating machinery
The negotiations addressing the possibilty of a School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSNB). Before UNISON would agree to joining the SSNB all our members would have to be consulted. This could have massive repercussions for all our members working in Schools.
The latest newsletter can be read online here.

Demo for Sheltered Housing

Local

Around 200 people demonstrated in Finchley last Saturday in defence of the sheltered warden scheme.
This has very much been a community campaign. A large number of those on the demo were older people who feel so strongly about their wardens they took part in spite of the difficulty and discomfort they had walking such a distance. They were clearly determined to show residents of Barnet what such a cutback would mean to them and shouted their demands “Save Our Wardens” to the passers-by and onlookers.

Representatives of the GMB, RMT, UNISON, PCS, NUT all took part as part of the Barnet Trades Council. At the end of the demonstration Councillor Alison Moore and local MP Andrew Dismore gave speeches adding their support to the campaign. The provision of sheltered housing means that many relatives feel reassured their beloved elderly relations have a degree of security by being in sheltered accommodation and so find it easier to relax knowing help is close at hand for their relative. So there were younger family members on the demonstration making it quite clear what this support means to them also.

But when you get old, wouldn’t you want to know this type of provision exists? If you do then maybe it’s time you joined the campaign on its next stage and took part in the rally outside Hendon Town Hall at 6pm on 19 May 2009.

To view pictures of the demonstration, click here.

The Right Honourable…?

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Just some of the claims

£4.47 for dog food, £115 for 25 light bulbs, £305.50 to “cure noise problems”, with her boiler, £312 for the fitting of mock Tudor beams, £600 for hanging baskets and pot plants, £765 claim from Ikea, £768 from Marks and Spencer’s for a bed, £1,350 in house repairs, £1,500 gardening bill, £2,000 to replace a leaking pipe under a tennis court, £2,074 for furniture and £2,339 for carpets, £3,194 bill for gardening, £9,000 a year for gardening, £13,000 in moving costs, £14,553 solicitors’ fees and stamp duty, £30,000 for doing up his £120,000 constituency, £75,000 to fund a second home in Westminster £35,000 in mortgage interest payments,

The former Prime Minister used his parliamentary expenses to remortgage his constituency home for £296,000 – nearly 10 times what he paid for it – just months before buying a west London house for £3.65m.

The prime minister paid his brother, Andrew, £6,577 for arranging cleaning services for his Westminster flat for 26 months

You can view it all online BBC website here.

Rank hypocrisy… politicians want to take your pension and hand you over to the private sector in order to bail out the inefficiency and gross negligence of the financial sector

I recognise not everyone is a Local Government Anorak. The day before the Budget the Treasury Department released a report ‘Operation Efficiency Programme – Final Report’ view it here.

It is clear whoever wins the General Election next year, the Government will get in!

Local Government is set to face hardship it has probably not had to face in over a generation. I know Council workers will ask what they have done to deserve this doomsday scenario of council services. The answer is nothing. In Barnet Council staff have delivered almost £60 million in savings and delivered a Four Star service.

What can’t happen is that Council Services across the UK are decimated in a crude attempt to offset £billions of debt bailing out the financial sector.

The role of the trade unions, staff and residents will be key to how council/public services are delivered in Barnet.

Make sure you make time to attend the rally at the Future Shape Cabinet Meeting on Monday 6 July 2009

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