Search Results for: one barnet

The Trade Union movement is facing its biggest challenge in over 30 years. The Conservative Home blog, think-tank of the Tories, is celebrating the drop in overall union   membership as one of its major achievements.

We are all organising to halt the attacks on our members’ terms and conditions, to resist mass redundancies, and last but not least to oppose the relentless privatisation of public services.

If you want to demonstrate against the Tories, then where better to do it than in Barnet on March 23rd? Barnet has a Tory Council which is using mass privatisation to make hundreds of Council workers redundant and is attacking the Council trade unions for campaigning to defend their members’ jobs. The Council is proposing to delete almost all agreed time off for trade union representatives to carry out their duties.

It is important that the trade union movement organises within its own community to support and build alliances with residents. We have seen that if residents learn about these cuts, they are prepared to act to defend them.

Barnet Trades Council is calling on all trade union branches across our borough to make a pledge to send their banners and members to the Barnet Spring march on Saturday 23 March. We are also extending our invitation to the wider trade union movement across London and  beyond. There is an alternative worth fighting for and the Trade Unions are very much part of it.

You can download flyer here

More than 150 Barnet Council workers are set to receive compensation, following a landmark decision, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, after a decision of the Employment Tribunal announced today (5 February).

The Employment Tribunal in Watford ruled that the council was in breach of changes to s 188 and regulation 13 of TUPE brought in by the Agency Workers’ Regulations by failing to provide UNISON with information on the number of agency workers employed by Barnet Council.

You can read the judgement here

UNISON asked for the information to protect council workers as part of a wider consultation over redundancies and the transfer of staff.

The Tribunal made protective awards of 60 days’ and compensation of 40 and 50 days’ pay in respect of two transfers and a redundancy exercise that took place last year.

The union welcomed today’s decision, as it is one of the first cases, brought under provisions introduced at the same time as the Agency Workers’ Regulations in October 2011. They require employers to provide information on the agency workers engaged during TUPE transfers and collective redundancy consultation.

The Judge in the case described Barnet’s refusal to provide information as “a relatively serious failure”. And UNISON said the decision, upholding the requirement to provide information on agency workers, has important ramifications for other unions, to help them negotiate more effectively and avoid redundancies.

Dave Prentis General Secretary of UNISON, said:

“Today’s landmark decision is an important step forward in protecting workers when they are under threat of redundancy or transfer. It must act as a warning to other councils that they must provide information on agency workers to unions or suffer the consequences.

“Across the country, councils are cutting and outsourcing services. Workers need to be protected from having their rights ridden over roughshod. Today’s decision is recognition of the difficulties that unions face when employers withhold information that could and should be given.”

John Burgess, Barnet UNISON Branch Secretary, said:

“We welcome this decision which recognises the hard work of our local reps who have consistently raised the issue of agency workers data over the last three and half years.”

Our reps repeatedly warned the Council about their responsibilities to provide the agency data at a time when staff are at ‘risk of redundancy’ and outsourcing. Barnet Council have become increasingly reliant on consultants and chose to ignore our attempts to resolve this matter locally.”

The Employment Tribunal found:

1. That the Respondent (Barnet Council) failed to comply with s 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 in respect of redundancies that took effect on 31 March 2012 by failing to provide information on agency workers;

2. The Respondent failed to comply with r 13 of TUPE 2006 in respect of transfers on 1 April and 1 May 2012 by failing to provide information on agency workers; and 3. The Tribunal has made protective awards of 60 days and compensation of 40 and 50 days respectively in respect of these breaches.

Ends

On Thursday evening the Conservative councillors on the Business Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee voted to support the Cabinet Decision to award Capita the lucrative NSCSO contract. Over the past three weeks, UNISON and residents have submitted over 300 questions about the Capita NSCSO contract. 300 hundred questions far more than all the questions raised by councillors in three council meeting. The NSCSO Dossier contained 173 critical questions none of which have been answered. On 7 January UNISON will begin talks with Capita. At these meetings we will be seeking to negotiate with Capita to stop the 200 plus redundancies identified in their winning contract submission.

Public Interest Lawyers

Press Release – 7 DECEMBER 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUDICIAL REVIEW CHALLENGE TO PRIVATISATION OF BARNET COUNCIL SERVICES LAUNCHED

________________________________________________________________

Public Interest Lawyers, acting on behalf of Susan Sullivan, a concerned Barnet resident, has today notified Barnet Council (at 9.39am) of her intention to seek judicial review of the “One Barnet programme”. The pre-action protocol letter sets out her claim against the Council. She alleges that the Council is acting unlawfully, both as to the process it has adopted and the substance of its proposals. The One Barnet programme is unprecedented in its ambition and scale nationally, yet it has never been the subject of a consultation of Barnet residents nor an effective equalities impact assessment.

The letter seeks the immediate suspension of any further contracting decisions by the Council and the carrying out of a full and effective consultation and equalities assessment. She contends that the results of any such assessment/consultation would cause the Council to re-evaluate the ill-advised programme.

The Claimant argues that the Council has breached the following legal duties:

a) The Public Sector Equality Duty – this requires the Council to have “due regard” to equalities considerations and the impact of its decisions on protected equalities groups throughout its decision making process. The Council has failed to have regard to this duty both in relation to the timing of its equality impact assessments –postponed until too late in the contracting process; and in relation to the form of the few assessments that have been carried out. They have failed to evaluate the most important question: what is the impact of a wholesale and irreversible contracting out of the Council’s functions? High-flown contractual promises of bidders lack essential rigour and detail and are no answer to this question. There has been inadequate consideration of mitigating actions.

b) The ‘Best Value Duty’ in s3 Local Government Act 1999 – this duty requires the Council to obtain ‘best value’. This includes community as well as financial value. Statutory Guidance requires consultation to take place. This has not happened. An evaluation of value requires the consideration of maintaining in-house services. This has not happened.

c) Public law duties of consultation and information. In failing to consult, and to consider viable in-house alternatives, the Council has unlawfully closed its mind to valuable democratic considerations.

Speaking today, John Sullivan, the father of Susan Sullivan stated as follows:

“The Council has robbed Susan and her family of their democratic voice in failing to consult on what is a wholesale privatisation of local government. If this happened nationally, there would be outrage. Why should it be any different for our beloved Barnet? The national contract failure rate is 25%. When these contracts collapse, who will be left to pick up the pieces? No-one but the poor, the disabled and short-changed Barnet service users, residents and taxpayers.”

Speaking today, Daniel Carey of Public Interest Lawyers stated as follows:

“The law requires the Council to consult residents and carefully evaluate the impact of its decisions on equalities groups. Yet, in the biggest decision the Council could possibly take – to effectively cease to be a Council as we know it – it has failed to do so. I hope the Council will now listen to the legal arguments and give proper and lawful regard to residents and their concerns.”

For further information, contact:

Public Interest Lawyers

Daniel Carey, Solicitor

Telephone: 0121 515 5069

Mobile: 07815 089526

E-mail: info@publicinterestlawyers.co.uk

– ENDS –

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CAPITA WINS – MASSIVE JOB LOSSES FOR BARNET COUNCIL STAFF

Today approximately 520 Barnet Council staff have been told in a series of briefings that Capita is to be their new employer.

From figures released in the presentations today approximately 57% of staff will face redundancy as local jobs are exported to Belfast, Blackburn, Bromley, Carlisle, Darwen, Sheffield, Banstead, Swindon, Southampton.

For the last four years UNISON has warned of the danger of jobs being exported out of Barnet. Leading Councillors and senior officers have either played down this risk or discounted it as irrelevant.

John Burgess, Branch Secretary said: “It is a dark, dark day in the history of Barnet Council. Staff and residents will remember this date as the day the council carried on marching over the cliff ignoring the stark warnings of residents and other key stakeholders. The implications for our members are awful. I thought the morale of the workforce had already hit rock bottom, this news I believe will drag it down deeper and it will have an impact on other council staff. I also fear for the impact on future quality of services to Barnet residents. I really hope Councillors will think again about the implications of what they are proposing and the risks of ignoring a growing dissenting community voice emerging from a resilient committed community campaign. But, it isn’t over yet, there is an alternative way to delivering public services and our campaign is still very alive and focused. Watch this space”

***** Ends *****

Notes to Editors.

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

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 700 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 will be awarded to either Capita or BT 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

Barnet UNISON Press Release: 30 October 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: BARNET COMMISSIONING COUNCIL VOTE FOR IN-HOUSE SERVICES

On Wednesday 7 November 2012 Barnet Council Cabinet Resources Committee is considering a recommendation to support the One Barnet in-house Street Scene Project. The One Barnet Street Scene Project includes the following services:

·         Refuse, organic waste and recycling collections

·         Waste strategy

·         Street cleansing

·         Greenspaces

·         Highways operational team

Earlier this month the Barnet Press reported that “Brent Council executive committee passed proposals to “outsource its “public realm” services – waste collection, street cleaning and ground maintenance – in tandem with Barnet Council as part of its One Council programme.”

 

This decision to support the in-house services signals a clear change of direction for Barnet Council which is currently implementing a policy known as the One Barnet Programme, sometimes referred to as the ‘Commissioning Council’.

John Burgess UNISON Branch Secretary said: “This is fantastic news for residents & 700 council workers delivering these services. I want to take the opportunity to applaud the Council for at last recognising the potential of in-house services to be able to compete with the private sector. We are now calling for the Council to halt the current outsourcing plans for the two contracts (worth in excess of a Billion Pounds public money). We are asking for the Council to work with staff, unions and the community to develop efficient, innovative services for Barnet residents and ensure savings go back into the pockets of the council tax payers.”

 

***** Ends *****

Notes to Editors.

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

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 700 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 will be awarded to either Capita or BT 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

Our UNISON branch 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

 

 

Dear Cllr Cornelius

URGENT – One Barnet

I write as a matter of urgency following the announcement that the Chief Executive, Mr Nick Walkley, has accepted an appointment at the London Borough of Haringey and is due to vacate his post at Barnet shortly.

Mr Walkley’s departure occurs at a critical point in the One Barnet programme. The final evaluation report concerning the NSCSO contract will be published in three weeks time and be considered by the Cabinet early next month, likewise the DRS report will be published and considered very early in the New Year.

Mr Walkley has played a – if not the – leading officer role on the One Barnet programme in the Council over many years, firstly as Assistant CEO with the Future Shape programme, and latterly as CEO with One Barnet. Moreover, most other senior officer roles concerned with driving the One Barnet programme are now being undertaken either by consultants or organisations external to the Council such as Agylisis and Impower. His departure will therefore inevitably result in the London Borough of Barnet relying almost exclusively on outside agencies to advise and make recommendation on the future of the bulk of the Council’s core services.

As you know, UNISON has consistently raised our concerns about the One Barnet programme, not just because we have major concerns for the workforce and our members, but also for the probable implications it will have for the standards of service and costs to the residents of the Borough. Now one of the chief architects of the programme will now no longer be remaining to see the project through or to take responsibility for its ongoing implementation.

For these reasons UNISON respectfully requests that the Council consider suspending the One Barnet Programme with a view to evaluating whether or not this now provides the best way forward for the Borough’s services. Further, UNISON remains fully committed to engaging in meaningful discussion

with the Council with a view to securing significant efficiency savings through service re-engineering whilst retaining high quality services in house, and would be very grateful if you would agree to meeting with us, and other trade unions should you find this appropriate, to explore this option as an alternative to the One Barnet Programme.

I would be very grateful for an early reply to this proposal.

Yours sincerely

LINDA PERKS

REGIONAL SECRETARY

UNISON GLR

cc All Barnet Councillors

Nick Walkley, CEO

Andrew Travers, Assistant CEO

This week Barnet  libraries management  announced to library staff their plans for the service.

To view report click here

Front-line  library staff numbers are to be cut and more self–service machines will introduced. The number of staff carrying out the duties of professionally qualified  librarians will be cut from 24.5 post to 6 and these 6 will no longer work directly with the public. 

 

The librarians are the staff who select the books, CDs and DVDs for libraries and  ordering books that readers request. They have developed and taught the IT sessions for beginners.  These staff  run the childrens rhyme and story times, organise events such as author talks. The Librarians developed and maintained  Barnet’s digital library and on-line reference libraries, they visit schools and host visits by schools to libraries. They also run programs promoting literacy such as World Book Night, and the Summer  Reading Challenge, as well as dealing with the more complex queries asked in public libraries every day.

 

Those front-line staff remaining will also suffer a pay cut.as their weekend allowance for working  Saturdays is removed. This will not affect senior management and administration staff who don’t work weekends.

 

Despite the reduction in front line staff and Barnet Libraries having two less building to run with the closure of Friern Barnet Library and the handing over of Hampstead Garden Library to a local resident group, the number of senior management posts remains the same and administration staff posts increased by two. In addition a temporary project manager to enforce further cuts is proposed.

 

This restructure will result in a library service with less staff available to serve the public and with less expertise and skills.  The choice of stock available in the libraries may decline and service and activities previously delivered by trained and experienced staff will be done by volunteers. This restructure represents a worsening of conditions for staff and an inadequate service for the public. UNISON Barnet are challenging this proposal and will strive for a library service whose workers are justly valued and treated and one that will provide the people of Barnet with a service they deserve. 

UNISON members living in Barnet are taking up concerns about One Barnet with their local councillors.

In September there are a number events taking place at councillor surgeries.

You can view the details of surgeries here

Two simple things you can do

1. You can lobby your local councillor on line by clicking on the link here and just follow the instructions

2. Sign this petition here