These are the words Ken Loach uses to describe the proposed cuts to our last 2 Welfare Rights Advisors.
Shockingly this proposed cut is not about saving money! One of the biggest user groups of the service are those with Mental Health problems.
Of course it’s great that famous people are joining in to break the taboo of talking about Mental ill-health but what is the point if we just then kick these people in the face by removing access to an important service!
No 2 Outsourcing
Barnet UNISON welcomes the proposal going to the Environment Committee Thursday 11th May at 6.30pm:
“That Environment Committee approves option E as set out in section 1.15 to 1.29 for the Street Scene Delivery Unit services including; recycling and waste, street cleansing, and green spaces maintenance (Lots 1-3) to revert to a full In–House service
That Environment Committee note and agree to the timescale, to revert to a full In–House service as set out in section 1.27, and agree that the Streetscene ADM project has concluded and that an implementation project will now commence”
Please join us in Hendon Town Hall on this historic occasion of watching an in-house model being proposed to our local councillors.
This election like no other represents a fork in the road for the future development of our society and public services. If you are not registered, you cannot vote. If you have more people over the age of 18 in your household – are they registered to vote? Closing date is 22nd May. Register here https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
As a result of consultation we have now learnt that the two welfare rights advisor workers are not being sacked in order to make CUTS, they are being sacked because vulnerable families will get a better service without them!
Before I address the issue of why it is so wrong to sack the Welfare Rights workers I want to highlight this scene in Ken Loach’s BAFTA Award winning film “I, Daniel Blake”
This scene shows the daily humiliating life experiences people in need are facing.
I’m referring to this scene, because the Barnet Council proposal is to move away from helping to sign posting. It sounds good in the highly paid consultancy circle world. BUT the grim reality this is not just a cut for two workers it is a cruel cut that will deny access to the vital information, advocacy and support for the most vulnerable families in Barnet.
Before Barnet UNISON found out that this was NOT a financial saving, we would have referred the Council back to the uncontrollable Agency/consultancy worker costs which have gone from a round £7.3 million in 2012 to 19.8 million by March 2017.
“Why will this proposal cause hard to vulnerable families?”
In the past seven years there have been many changes in the way Advice in the London Borough of Barnet has been delivered.
The following organisations have either closed down or no longer do Welfare Rights Advice.
The two Welfare Rights workers are the only service that still provides comprehensive/ impartial benefits Advice up to Appeals level in Barnet. Both statutory and non-statutory organisations refer to the two workers.
In consultation it has been put to Barnet UNISON that the service could be picked up by other organisations. What is clear is that the report does not appear to know what is being provided out there in our community.
Below are some of the organisation mentioned who could pick up the work left as a result of sacking the two welfare rights workers.
Next actions:
Barnet UNISON on Tuesday 9 May at the Family Services JNCC declared a ‘failure to agree’ in response to the proposed sacking of the two welfare rights workers.
The matter has now been escalated to a meeting chaired by the Chief Executive.
If the proposal to sack the workers is not withdrawn the matter will be raised at General Functions Committee on 28 June where we will address the Leader of the Council.
Links:
https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2017/05/04/simply-unbelievable-update-welfare-rights/
You would think that at my time of life and my experience of cuts that I would become immune to the brutality of Austerity cuts.
But today, my head exploded as I attended a statutory consultation meeting which is proposing to delete the only two welfare benefits advisors we have left in the Council.
I will post greater details about this proposal but needless to say the two staff concerned are highly skilled, motivated and totally committed to advocating for some of the most vulnerable families in our community.
Welfare Benefits is a nightmare to navigate even social workers refer to our welfare benefits advisors as do the few remaining voluntary organisations that are left after a series of cuts to the voluntary sector.
Our two members are providing service to vulnerable families with complex mental health problems. Mental Health appears to be attracting a lot of attention, a lot of warms words, but it is this sort of cut that exposes the words are empty.
The proposals to replace these vital two posts with a ‘Financial Inclusion Coordinator”.
I kid you not that the service is going and this post will sign post vulnerable to services, but the thing is there are no equivalent services for these families.
When Ken Loach refers to “conscious managed cruelty” I think I can understand what he means, who in their right mind in social services would want to do this or even think this is a good idea.
What makes me even angrier is the amount of money this proposal will save is negligible when compared with the amount of money Barnet Council is spending on agency and consultants. Since 2012, spend has risen incrementally from £7.73 million to just under £20 million by 2017.
Read it for yourself here http://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/is-anyone-monitoring-capita.html
What about the damage to the families who will no longer receive the support they are currently being provided.
Before anyone says there are other agencies that can provide the same services. No there are not.
This proposal is appalling and must be stopped.
Barnet UNISON and our members will do our utmost to stop this from happening. The benefit system is too complex, there is no other provider we can’t let this cut destroy more peoples lives.
We need to save this service.
You can send messages of support to Barnet UNISON office at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk
To: Barnet UNISON members working in Barnet Council community schools.
We are currently supporting individual staff in unique roles with their issues.
However there are a number of staff who are in roles which are covered by what are referred to as Group Appeals.
What is a Group Appeal?
This is an appeal for a job where there are a number of post holders such as Teaching Assistant, ICT technician, Nursery Nurse, School Business Manager.
The impact of a Group Appeal directly impacts on all post holders in that role.
Before Barnet UNISON requests an Appeal we will organise meetings and send out invites for members to come along in order we can explain the process.
We have already had a series of successful meetings with Nursery Nurses who provided UNISON with valuable information about the work they do in the classroom. It is important that if you receive a request to attend a UNISON meeting after work that you try to attend one of them.
What is a formal request for an Appeal?
Barnet UNISON will notify Barnet Council to begin the ballot of members about the Appeal. Barnet Council will send a letter to all staff in that specific role asking staff if they support the Appeal request (a simple Yes or No)
It is really important that all members respond immediately that they want the Appeal to go ahead. Barnet UNISON will notify our members the ballot has begun in order we get a high turnout (we need more than 50%)
Just recently UNISON requested an Appeal for Nursery Nurses and we quickly managed to get over 80% of our members all voting YES to supporting our request to take their case to an Appeal Hearing.
What happens in an Appeal Hearing?
The Appeal hearing will be heard by a member of Human Resources (HR) and a Trade Union rep.
Barnet UNISON reps with the support of the Branch Secretary John Burgess will prepare and present the group appeal for our members.
Barnet UNISON will be submitting Stage 2 Appeals for the following roles:
Before Barnet UNISON officially requests the Stage 2 Appeals we need to discuss the grounds with as many of our members as possible.
In order to try and ensure maximum participation we will invite members to attend a number of meetings in the summer term 2017.
If you are in doubt about the process then please do not hesitate to contact the Barnet UNISON office at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk or ring 0208 359 2088 or go onto our website https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/
Download flyer here sCHOOLS leaflet 1
UNISON National Executive Elections are open now. You should receive your ballot paper in the post. If you do not receive it by April 11th contact the ballot helpline before 25th April on 0800 0857 857. The ballot closes 28th April 5pm.
Members not on the UNISON central membership system on 3 January 2017 will not be eligible to vote in these elections. Only full members are eligible to vote in this election.
This is the highest body of lay representatives in the union. It is the body which holds the union to account and gives it direction. It also scrutinises the union’s business. This is an important election so USE YOUR VOTE.
Our branch has nominated the candidates listed below as we believe these people have shown the most commitment to creating a fighting union and will seek to link disputes rather than leave branches to fight the effects of Austerity politics on their own.
Local Government Seats
Paul Homes – LG General Seat
Paul Gilroy – LG Male Seat
Andrea Egan – LG Female Seat
Jane Doolan – LG Female Seat
Greater London Seats
Sonya Howard – GL Female Seat
Helen Davies – GL Female Seat
Sean Fox – GL Male Seat
National Black Members Seats
April Ashley – Female Seat
Hugo Pierre – Male Seat
Disabled Members Seats
Roger Lewis – General Seat
Pam Howard – Female Seat
Community Seats
Kieran Grogan – General Seat
Janet Bryan – Female Seat
Young Members Seat
Josie Runswick – Young Members Seat
On 15 March 2017, I attended Barnet Councils Environment Committee where an outsourcing decision was to be discussed.
You can view the meeting online here https://youtu.be/Y24Lm5s-afM
In the meeting one councillor referred to a staff consultation in which only 15 out of over 400 staff responded.
The next day Barnet UNISON Street Scene reps decided to carry out our own consultation.
This time we gave Street Scene staff the opportunity to vote for the In-house option something which had been omitted from the consultation.
In just three days we had 279 responses the results were as follows:
243 staff ticked Strongly Support Street Scene Services run fully by In-House staff.
243 staff ticked Strongly Opposed all other options.
1 member of staff ticked Strongly Support Barnet Group running the service and employing all of the staff.
There were 35 spoilt ballot papers.
Now we wait until Thursday 11 May 2017 to hear their fate for our members working in Street Scene.
