Search Results for: one barnet

There has been and will be a lot going on in the former borough of Barnet. Barnet Council has embarked on a mass outsourcing programme which has resulted in services being transferred out of council control. This strategy is high risk and many critics are arguing that there will be no going back in the event of service delivery failure. The loss of control of infrastructure mean it would be financially impossible for the Council to step in and take control, the costs to the tax payer would be too high and political suicide for any party wanting to take back control.

In Barnet there is a vibrant community willing and able to try and scrutinise decision making in Hendon Town Hall.

The following organisations have already taken over services in the last 16 months

·         NSL – Parking

·         Your Choice – Services for adults with disabilities

·         Harrow Council – have taken over the council’s legal department

·         Barnet Homes- taken over Housing workers

·         Two massive contracts have recently been won by Capita. However as a result of a challenge from disability rights campaigner Maria Nash the transfer of these services has been put on hold until the outcome of the JR Appeal in the Court of Appeal on Monday 15 July.

Each week we will produce the Top Ten stories from the former London Borough of Barnet picked from local newspapers, Blogs and local websites.

1. “Barnet Council Cabinet Meeting 24/6/2013 – Democracy in Action?”

http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/barnet-council-cabinet-meeting-2462013_25.html

2. “Barnet Cabinet – Just not listening”

http://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/barnet-cabinet-just-not-listening.html

3. “The Golden Share – or: words have meanings – Cabinet meeting Part Two”

http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-golden-share-or-words-have-meanings.html

4. “Crossovers – crossed wires”

http://lbbspending.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/crossovers-crossed-wires.html

 

5. “Barnet Council in the dock #1: CPZ Action”

http://citizenbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/barnet-council-in-dock-1-cpz-action.html

6. “Your Choice Barnet – all on hold? Yes? No?”

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1236

7. “Tory councillor slams lack of scrutiny after care home contract awarded despite resident death”

http://www.barnet-today.co.uk/News.cfm?id=21047&headline=Tory

8. “Somali Bravanese Welfare Association hosts annual thanksgiving in North London Business Park”

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/10516882.Community_centre_destroyed_by_fire_holds_thanksgiving_event/?ref=mr

9” “ ‘One Barnet’ Council On Trial”.

http://barnetalliance.org/2013/06/12/agm-one-barnet-council-on-trial/

10. “Your Choice Barnet U-Turn after receiving notice of a potential legal challenge”

http://barnetalliance.org/2013/06/17/your-choice-barnet-u-turn-after-receiving-notice-of-a-potential-legal-challenge/

 

 

 

Your Choice Barnet (YCB) has informed us of the potential Legal Challenge from carers/ parents to their proposal to restructure half the service, withdraw weekend enhancements, carry out a benchmarking exercise with the private sector. The challenge now means that YCB will carry out a consultation exercise with parents and carers on their proposals.

UNISON has requested that the voluntary redundancies be put on hold pending the outcome of the of the consultation exercise. We have said that continuing with any of the measures proposed would mean pre-empting the outcome of the consultation exercise. The numbers of redundancies anticipated through voluntary redundancy and throughout come of the first round of interviews carried out for management positions, means that there are an anticipated 27 redundancies (VR and compulsory). This equates to around one fifth of the workforce. Redundancies on this scale mean massive changes, upheaval and stress to remaining colleagues as well as service users. Furthermore it is possible the consultation exercise will revise the new structure and may have meant that people would be inclined to stay.

We have written again stating that setting a deadline of 24th of June as a final declaration of their interest for those wanting voluntary redundancy is not acceptable. Furthermore the letter to staff indicates they have already received their redundancy pay which would be unusual given that the redundancy date first earmarked is first of July.

We have also queried the outcome of the interviews for coordinator roles as it is our understanding almost half the applicants failed to secure a position in the new structure. Therefore the interview process was not about selecting a redundancy, but selecting people out of YCB. This means YCB now has additional redundancy costs as well as expensive recruitment costs. It was not our understanding this was how the interview process would be conducted.

Tomorrow Tuesday 11th June at 7pm the Budget and Performance Overview and Scrutiny Committee meet to discuss the DRS business case. It is a public meeting so anyone can attend. I can report that over 133 questions have been submitted to this Scrutiny committee which is the largest number of questions I have ever seen submitted to a committee.

You can read the questions HERE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ‘Capitaville’-Capita to takeover more Barnet Council services.

Today staff were told at a series of briefings that Capita Symonds is the preferred bidder to deliver a whole range of Council Regulatory services to Barnet residents and businesses.

 The services to be handed over to Capita include the following:

Trading Standards & Licensing, Land Charges, Planning & Development, Building Control & Structures, Environmental Health, Highways Strategy, Highways Network Management, Highways Traffic & Development, Highways Transport & Regeneration, Strategic Planning & Regeneration, Hendon Cemetery & Crematoria

Barnet Council has a number of statutory responsibilities to monitor the private sector in order to ensure the health and safety of their residents. The recent high- profile national public-health scandal about the use of Horsemeat in processed foods emphasises that private companies do not adequately monitor their own activities, leaving the public at risk. If Barnet Council is allowed to privatise these services, it will set a dangerous precedent for other councils.

Barnet Council has been promoting itself as an innovator for the future of public services by adopting the Commissioning Council model. In the last 12 months the Council has overseen a significant number of services outsourced to other providers. The full list of services are here.

John Burgess UNISON Branch Secretary said: “Barnet Council is making a huge mistake in handing over these critical services to the private sector. It is not just about the risks this brings but what it means in term of democratic accountability. Next year we have the local elections in May 2014. What options will there be for the electorate if all the council spend is tied up into complex contracts? As for all the remaining staff the message is stark: no matter how loyal you are, no matter how hard you work political dogma is dictating all services are to be outsourced. Today a number of our members have chosen to wear black armbands/ black clothing as a sign of the demise of the public sector ethos in Barnet Council.”

***** Ends *****

Notes to Editors.

Contact details: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on 07738389569 or 0208 359 2088 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk

Links

1. What is One Barnet watch this short animation http://ning.it/Qp5Adx

2. UNISON report on One Barnet DRS contract http://ning.it/11OQWlQ

3. UNISON financial report on One Barnet DRS contract http://ning.it/12mocvO

4. One hundred PLUS reasons why One Barnet is high risk and bad for residents and services http://ning.it/NAyJLY

5. 397 jobs “The true cost of One Barnet outsourcing” http://ning.it/11OSuMT

 

 

 

 

 

UNISON recently wrote a letter (to view click here) to the Chief Executive about the tone of the recent JR internal email to All Staff.

To view response click here

UNISON recently wrote a letter (to view click here) to the Leader about the tone of the recent JR Press release (here)

To view reply and our response click here

30 April 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Yesterday was a very sad day in the employment history of Barnet Council. Lord Justice Underhill, sitting in the high court, ruled against a severely disabled Barnet resident, Maria Nash, who challenged the north London council’s proposed contract with Capita on the basis that it failed to consult before outsourcing.

John Burgess UNISON Branch Secretary said:

“I have seen numerous reports in the media and the word which I really take great exception to is the use of “Victory”. In particularly this line:  “This is a clear and complete victory for the council. We won and our opponents lost.” (Leader Barnet Council 29 April 2013)

 

For those unfamiliar with the human casualties arising from the One Barnet mass outsourcing programme, there are almost 1000 jobs affected by this decision. There are at least 400 local jobs at risk of redundancy in the next 12 months as a result of Capita’s plan to relocate jobs to Belfast, Carlisle, Southampton, Blackburn to name but a few locations.

 

Barnet Council deliberately chose not to include a clause in the tender to include a requirement from the winning contractor to bring jobs into our community. Only last week I had to sit in a Full Council meeting and listen to the Deputy Leader of Barnet Council say the following:

“In Quarter 2 2012/13, Barnet was ranked in second place in London for the total number of ‘high performing and low cost’ services” (Deputy Leader, Barnet Council April 2013)

 

Up and down the country some politicians are standing shoulder to shoulder with their communities fighting to keep jobs local. BUT here in Barnet our members are saying hard work and loyalty count for nothing. 

Our next task will be to enter into urgent negotiations with Capita to try and see if they will change their plans to ship hundreds of jobs out of our community and instead deliver services here in Barnet and so avoid hundreds of redundancies.”

***** Ends *****

Notes to Editors.

Contact details: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on 07738389569 or 0208 359 2088 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk

Links

1. Update on true cost of Capita NSCSO outsourcing click here

2. Details of jobs lost to the community here

3. Capita – Update on TUPE consultation – For details click here

4. 397 jobs “The true cost of One Barnet outsourcing” details click here

5. To view link to the Judgement here

 

Brief report of staff consultation meeting held at Flower Lane for Your Choice Barnet staff 13.3.13

It’s fair to say the meeting was fiery as staff expressed their anger freely.

The financial problem for Your Choice Barnet is one of cashflow as they will no longer receive the block contract but receive payments in arrears reflecting the change to one where individual services are invoiced. This cashflow problem equates to £1million.

In addition there is a deficit of £1million as LBB will pay service users only a flat rate irrespective of whether the care they need is at night or at the weekend. Also a market rate will apply. It is also the case that YCB has been providing more service to the service user than is reflected in their care plan and therefore leaving a shortfall.

An obvious question was immediately that BH knew the payment arrangements would change before going into the LATC with YCB and so why did they not immediately see the finances for YCB would be compromised?

The response was that at the point of creation of the LATC Barnet Homes did not know the volumes they were taking over.

We pointed out that the Business Case had been very confident about being able to make surpluses, knowing LBB was talking about paying market rates. What has changed?

Ans: The Business case was based on assumptions

In the Business Case of May 2011 much had been made of the freedom for the LATC to step outside SLA’s and for example purchase its own IT equipment. Yet we are now in a situation where LBB is insisting YCB stays with LBB for its IT, knowing this is going to Capita. Is this not the case of a not-for-profit organisation being used to prop up the business case for a contract to be successful with a for-profit organisation?

Ans: in a procurement exercise YCB had established they could find a cheaper IT provider. LBB stepped in to say that IT should remain as provided through the Council (Capita) and YCB need only pay the amount they had established through their procurement exercise. LBB will make up the difference.

In other words LBB is prepared to subsidise a service when it means securing a contract for Capita, but this would then seem to be at the cost of staff working for YCB!

In other parts staff criticised the move to reduce night time care on the basis that there was little need. The staff providing that service contradicted the view in the report that they are not needed as they could point to many examples where they had been needed.

More later….

Barnet UNISON Press Release: 15 February 2013 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: STOP the Privatisation of our Regulatory Services

Barnet UNISON is backing Avaaz petition which is states: 

“We are concerned that Barnet Council is about to hand over its Regulatory Services (in particular the Environmental Health and Trading Standards services) to a private company. Councils have statutory responsibilities to monitor the private sector in order to ensure the health and safety of their residents. The current high- profile national public-health scandal about processed foods emphasises that private companies do not adequately monitor their own activities, leaving the public at risk. If Barnet Council is allowed to privatise these services, it will set a dangerous precedent for other councils. We call for an immediate stop to the privatisation of council Regulatory Services throughout the country.”

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_the_privatisation_of_Regulatory_Services/?tFMrBab

John Burgess, Branch Secretary said: The recent national scandal concerning meat processing is threatening to expose a catalogue of failures by food manufacturers to monitor their own suppliers. The lack of robust regulation & monitoring of a critical service strikes a chord with our own concerns about our council’s determination via the One Barnet Programme to outsource key critical regulatory services, such as Environmental Health & Trading Standards . We are asking our members and their families, residents to sign this petition. Furthermore we asking all citizens of the UK to sign the petition in order to stop the privatisation of regulatory services now before it is too late.

***** Ends *****

Notes to Editors.

Contact details: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on 07738389569 or 0208 359 2088 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk

Links

1. Barnet Council leader not worried by One Barnet outsourcing court case

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/barnet_council_leader_richard_cornelius_not_worried_about_one_barnet_judicial_review_1_1868176

2. Barnet’s ‘easyCouncil’ faces judicial review over outsourcing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/22/tory-council-challenge-high-court

3. Fear and loathing in Barnet

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/inside-outsourcing/2013/02/fear-and-loathing-in-barnet—why-public-sector-outsourcers-their-shareholders-and-the-coalition-gov.html

4. UNISON report on Environmental Health Services Summary report ; Full survey report Statistical report

5. UNISON report on Trading Standards Summary report; Full survey report ;Statistical report

Background

Barnet Council is implementing a policy known as the One Barnet Programme, sometimes referred to as the ‘Commissioning Council’. This mass privatisation policy is designed for the Council to divest itself of responsibility to deliver services to its residents.

The first One Barnet project known as New Support Customer Services Organisation (NSCSO) will be for back office services such a Finance, Revenues & Benefits, Estates, IT, HR & Payroll etc, it is estimated to be worth up to £750 million.

It involves approximately 620 council workers. There is a high probability that the winning bidder will not deliver these services from Barnet so there is a high risk of significant redundancies at the moment of transfer.

This contract was awarded to either Capita at the Barnet Council Cabinet Resources Committee on Thursday 6 December 2012.

The second One Barnet project is known as Development & Regulatory Services (DRS) which includes the following services:

Trading Standards & Licensing, Land Charges, Planning & Development, Building Control & Structures, Environmental Health, Highways Strategy, Highways Network Management, Highways Traffic & Development, Highways Transport & Regeneration, Strategic Planning & Regeneration, Cemeteries & Crematoria.

This contract, worth up to £275 million pounds, will be awarded to Capita Symonds or EC Harris at the Barnet Council Cabinet Resources Committee on 8 January 2013.

This involves approximately 300 council workers

Both contracts are for ten years with an option to extend for a further five years.

UNISON’s position

Over the past four years UNISON has published over 40 detailed reports on the Future Shape/EasyCouncil/One Barnet mass privatisation programme.

Our message has remained clear.

 

Provide a level playing field and follow good practice and include a fully funded in house service improvement model to run alongside the procurement process.

 

Our proposal: In-house model

There are a number of examples of where Councils have followed this approach to good effect. Most recently Edinburgh City Council considered the potential for using private contractors to deliver a wide range of its services. It embarked on separate procurement processes for 3 blocks of services utilising the Competitive Dialogue process in an attempt to obtain the best offers available from the market. At the same time in-house teams were asked to work on service improvement plans or Public Sector Comparators, so that when it came to the award of contract, the Council could be sure that the services it was purchasing would genuinely optimise its use of scarce resources. In the end the Public Sector Comparators proved to be more attractive than any of the external offers and no contracts were awarded.

For a fuller explanation click here

Barnet UNISON has produced a list entitled “100 PLUS reasons why One Barnet is high risk and bad for residents and services” which you can view here

1. Watch the film ‘A Tale of Two Barnets’ http://ning.it/PUBMVP   

 

2. Listen to Ken Loach talk about the One Barnet Billion Pound Gamble Film http://ning.it/PIzXpv

 

3. Watch the Billion Pound Gamble Film Trailer http://ning.it/PvZYxF

 

4. Listen to Mr Reasonable explain all about the OneBarnet magical box http://ning.it/P4vPVW

 

5. Watch the Billion Pound Gamble Animation http://ning.it/Qp5Adx

 

6. Watch Barnet Residents occupy Hendon Town Hall http://ning.it/W7a08n

 

7. Listen to a Barnet resident speak at Barnet Full Council meeting http://ning.it/WgcUZ2

 

8. Learn about the Occupation of Friern Library here http://ning.it/W7alIe  

 

9. Save Friern campaign showing how to campaign against the cuts http://ning.it/XhYQ1R

 

10. Watch the excellent short film called ‘A Polite Revolution’  http://ning.it/W7b7Fc  

 

11. Learn about why Barnet’s ‘easyCouncil’ is facing a judicial review http://ning.it/WhYBDt