Two joint trade union meetings have been agreed for members to discuss school budget cuts and the possible impact on members and the schools.
Tuesday 29th October at St Margaret’s at 4 pm
Thursday 31st October at Moss Hall at 4 pm
Please try to come along to one or both of the meetings
If you need advice please ring the branch on 0208 359 2088 or email contactus@barnetunison.org.uk
BREAKING NEWS: Barnet Homes announce termination of outsourced Mears Housing repairs service and bring back domestic gas service
The following announcement was made to all Barnet Homes staff on Wednesday, 9 October 2019
“From 1 April 2020, the Barnet Homes repairs service, currently provided by contractors Mears, will be brought in-house. This means that Barnet Homes will be responsible for repairs in tenants’ homes, refurbishing void properties and repairs to communal parts on our estates.
The domestic gas service will continue to be managed by Mears until 1 October 2020, when it will also be transferred into Barnet Homes and run as an in-house service.”
“This is fantastic news. Housing repairs was one of the first contracts to be outsourced by Barnet Homes. Housing repairs is a critical service and should not have ever been outsourced. Housing repairs was originally delivered by Barnet Council (and should return back there) after which it was first outsourced to Barnet Homes then sold off to Connaughts which became bankrupt. The service was handed on to Lovells and finally to Mears. Looking after council tenants needs to be under the direct control of the Council. This is a welcome first step to that end. The role of Council Housing needs to be seen just as important as Family Services in addressing the brutality of child poverty. All Councils must learn lessons from Grenfell and accept Housing is a human right and as such should be provided directly by the Council.” John Burgess, Branch Secretary, Barnet UNISON.
Please sign and share this petition
SAVE OUR BARNET NURSERY SCHOOLS
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-our-barnet-nursery-schools-1
Barnet UNISON will be shortly organising a joint trade union meeting at one of the schools please make sure you try to attend.
Barnet UNISON read with dismay the following report entitled “Oakleigh Depot Remedial Works” which is going to Policy and Resources Committee on Thursday 3 October 2019.
What’s it all about?
The issue of subsidence was noted by Barnet UNISON from the moment we moved into Oakleigh depot in August 2017.
The report which is going to Policy and Resources Committee does not reference the significant involvement of Capita.
Capita Property & Infrastructure Ltd (“Capita”) provided the following report entitled: The “Oakleigh Road South Depot Phase 2 Ground Investigation & Assessment April 2015 report” and the “Soil Stabilisation report dated 1 February 2017”.
Here are the two key documents
Barnet UNISON has over the last 18 months attempted to work with Council officials to ensure safe working at the depot. However once the crack opened up across the road and the fuel tank area was splitting from the pavement, management stopped sharing vital information.
Below is a summary of UNISON requests for information.
The Council responded that it did not believe that the reinforcement was insufficient.
We were given details on the plans for repairs and have not yet received a surveyor’s report.
The report included a request for the relevant surveyor’s reports and asked what contingency plans for the service were in place if vehicles were prevented from using the depot should repair works be needed.
We received neither the surveyor’s report nor any information on a contingency plan
What does the “Oakleigh Depot Remedial Works” report say?
In paragraph 1.10 it states “With health and safety a priority…….” and in paragraph 3.1 it states: “Officer have been unable to identify options that have no, or lesser, impact on service. The option to do nothing was discounted due to health and safety risk.”
In paragraph 5.5.1 refers to an “Environment risk register” it goes on add “To manage health and safety risk, the council’s health and safety lead is reviewing proposals alongside operational staff. Additional health and safety capacity will be brought in if and when required.”
The reason for our grave concerns is that Barnet UNISON was unaware of any Health and Safety risks at the depot because someone in the Council had made a decision not to share this information. This shocking revelation that there are health and safety risks raises serious questions marks as to who decided not to share information with the trade unions.
Health and Safety legislation is very clear:
“Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations, 1977.Regulation 7 Inspection of documents and provision of information.
(1) Safety representatives shall for the performance of their functions under section 2(4) of the 1974 Act and under these Regulations, if they have given the employer reasonable notice, be entitled to inspect and take copies of any document relevant to the workplace or to the employees the safety representatives represent which the employer is required to keep by virtue of any relevant statutory provision within the meaning of section 53(1) of the 1974 Act except a document consisting of or relating to any health record of an identifiable individual.”
Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974
“2 (6) It shall be the duty of every employer to consult any such representatives with a view to the making and maintenance of arrangements which will enable him and his employees to co-operate effectively in promoting and developing measures to ensure the health and safety at work of the employees, and in checking the effectiveness of such measures.”
Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations, 1977. Regulation 4A
“(1) Without prejudice to the generality of section 2(6) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, every employer shall consult safety representatives in good time with regard to – (a) the introduction of any measure at the workplace which may substantially affect the health and safety of the employees the safety representatives concerned represent;”
In light of the publication of the above report Barnet UNISON wrote to all three authors of the Council “Oakleigh Depot Remedial Works” report.
We have made the following demands:
Failure to provide the information above will mean Barnet UNISON has no option but to contact the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
View reports click on links below
CH-SSP-UK-MGridEG-Oakleigh Road South Depot-Rev 01 Feb 17
15_04005_FUL-SITE_INVESTIGATION_REPORT-3112004 (1) (1)
Thursday 19th September Barnet UNISON wrote to The Barnet Group asking when the London Living Wage would be applied to the colleagues who transferred in from Fremantle Group.
As soon as we heard these workers were to be transferred into the Group we made it clear to the new employer that we wanted this for the care workers. The work these colleagues do is demanding and is a skilled job yet these workers receive rates of pay which are often only just above the National Minimum Wage (£8.21/ hr). Few workers are receiving rates of pay higher than the London Living Wage (Team Leaders for example).
We were very proud that our outsourced cleaners working in Barnet Council offices now earn the London Living Wage so the care workers must now receive at least the same wage.
In fact the ex-Fremantle workers are not the only care workers in the Barnet Group who receive less than the London Living Wage. The Barnet Group describes itself as a “London Living Wage” employer but unfortunately cannot retain this title so long as so many colleagues earn so much less.
“Caring for vulnerable people is a skilled job and should be recognised as such. There is no way care workers should be paid less than shelf stackers and cleaners. No one deserves less than the London Living Wage. We expect The Barnet Group and Barnet Council to pay this as an absolute minimum.” Helen Davies, Chair, Barnet UNISON.
“Barnet Group cannot be allowed to continue paying below the London Living Wage to these care workers, some of whom were council staff before they were “outsourced” to Fremantle, who attacked their pay and Terms and Conditions remorselessly. The Barnet Group is solely owned by Barnet Council and should fulfil the Councils commitment to the London living wage.” Patrick Hunter Barnet UNISON Convenor for Barnet Homes.
“Everyone agrees that care workers are undervalued, overworked and unpaid. In Barnet we have had an agreement for several years that no staff would earn less than the London Living Wage (LLW) and in the event staff were outsourced the contractor must make the same commitment that no staff working on a Barnet contract must earn less than the LLW. Earlier this year Barnet Council honoured this agreement by ensuring contracted out cleaners were on the LLW. I am calling on Barnet Council and The Barnet Group (TBG) to ‘do the right thing’ and announce that all care workers working for TBG are upgraded to at least the LLW.” John Burgess, Branch Secretary, Barnet UNISON.
More to follow……………………..
Dear Members
Since the formation of Barnet Council in 1965 there has always been an office for our members to visit and meet with their reps first when it was NALGO and now Barnet UNISON.
Barnet UNISON has moved a few times over the last decades. We were based in an old mortuary in Hendon until the Council moved services “lock, stock and barrel” to North London Business Park (NLBP).
We remained in NLBP until the Council began its new accommodation strategy.
We were moved to Barnet House and we are still here.
It is really important for our members that they have access to their trade union.
Currently we have large numbers of members at Oakleigh Road depot, NLBP, Colindale.
Over the last 12 months we have been in discussions with the Council to find suitable accommodation that is accessible and provides confidentiality.
Why are we not at Colindale?
The set up in Colindale is open plan and the Council were unable to secure an enclosed office where we could meet, greet and discuss issues with our members. It is important that members are able to access Barnet UNISON without others knowing.
Subsequently we have been looking at some other properties. Originally we were going to return to Building 2 NLBP for a limited amount of time but that has not materialised.
Time is running out.
At the moment we are still in Barnet House because the building is still open for Housing Needs service which has not moved to Colindale. At some point Barnet House will be closed and we will be out on the streets hence the need to find something suitable.
We are still hoping to find a solution with the Council but we need to be prepared for potentially being homeless.
How you can help?
We are calling on all members to keep a look out for anywhere they think might be suitable for a Barnet UNISON office.
It’s important that members understand that the branch does not have funding for an office and therefore any costs would have to be taken out of our existing budget. This is a real concern because we have a large and diverse membership and we struggle to live within our budget each year. We will of course be contacting our union to ask if they are able to provide extra funding for accommodation and we will report back to our members the outcome of that request.
“The Pensions Regulator has issued a draft improvement notice to the London Borough of Barnet to tackle deficiencies in the pension fund’s administration processes and controls.”
“Meanwhile, a recent internal audit report has identified a number of “high risk-rated issues” in relation to the scheme’s administration, which is outsourced to Capita.”
http://www.pensions-expert.com/DB-Derisking/TPR-still-unhappy-with-pensions-admin-at-Barnet
The above are extracts from an article by Pensions Expert Sophia Imeson | July 15, 2019 “TPR still unhappy with pensions admin at Barnet”.
“It’s becoming a full-time job just keeping track of the relentless number of issues arising from poor performance of the Capita Pension Administration service. The question our members keep asking is “how many times does Capita have to fail before the service is taken off Capita and brought back in-house?” Whilst Barnet UNISON I welcomes the news that the Leader of Barnet Council wants to “get things right” where Barnet UNISON differs is why the reluctance to simply end the contract? Barnet UNISON has sat in too many committee meetings where councillors have heard the following: “Capita has put together a plan.”
It is too late for any plan. It is patently obvious there are some pretty fundamental problems with the Capita Pensions Administration Service which is why in July 2019 “internal audit report has recently flagged up a “limited assurance” level for the scheme’s design and effectiveness of controls in place.”
The latest news is that The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has issued a draft improvement notice to Barnet Council should be the final straw.
What should Barnet Council do next?
Barnet Council needs to seriously think about what it does next. The reason Barnet UNISON says this is because to run an efficient Pension Administration Service you need to ensure the HR and Payroll are working effectively as this can also have a serious impact on Pension Administration.
The problem Barnet UNISON can see is the Council knee jerk reaction due to understandable pressure to act could end in the Council simply moving to another HR provider.
This act fails to assess the impact of Payroll issues on Pensions Administration service.
For some reason, when Capita bid to take over our services in 2012, they proposed to split the in-house Payroll service by running payroll services out of Belfast and Carlisle.
It would be an understatement to say that there have been issues with Payroll.
If Barnet Council simply switch provider, fast forward six months’ time and councillors could be sitting in a committee meeting listening to LBB HR, Capita (Payroll) and Pensions (new provider) all arguing who is responsible for service issues.
Barnet UNISON has consistently taken the same approach to these endemic failures.
Barnet Council needs to bring back and rebuild the Payroll and Pension Administration services to work alongside the recently returned HR service.
Only then does Barnet UNISON believe that the Pension Administration service can return to the high standards it provided before the outsourcing to Capita”
End.
Background reading of previous reports on Capita Pensions in Barnet
By Sophia Imeson | July 15, 2019
“The Pensions Regulator has issued a draft improvement notice to the London Borough of Barnet to tackle deficiencies in the pension fund’s administration processes and controls…..”
http://www.pensions-expert.com/DB-Derisking/TPR-still-unhappy-with-pensions-admin-at-Barnet
By Stephanie Hawthorne | May 23, 2019
“The problem was once so serious that Hymans Robertson, the actuary to the scheme, was commissioned by Barnet council to investigate the quality of the pensions data, and it was feared that inaccuracies could lead to a delay carrying out the triennial valuation later this year.”
http://www.pensions-expert.com/DB-Derisking/Light-at-end-of-tunnel-in-Barnet-admin-fiasco
Sophia Imeson | March 28, 2019
“In 2017, the Pensions Regulator said it had fined the Local Government Pension Scheme fund £1,000 for failing to submit its 2016 scheme return on time.”
Alex Janiaud | October 22, 2018
“The London Borough of Barnet Council has reported itself to the Pensions Regulator after failing to produce 447 pension benefit statements on time.”
“A spokesperson for the regulator confirmed that it was “in contact with those responsible for the governance and administration of the scheme”.
The spokesperson said: “We expect all those responsible for the governance and administration of a scheme to ensure appropriate internal controls are in place to ensure that non-compliant employers fulfil their responsibilities to that scheme.”
http://www.pensions-expert.com/DB-Derisking/Barnet-in-TPR-breach-as-Capita-misses-payments
