Your Choice responds back to UNISON
Barnet UNISON submitted a report to Your Choice Barnet on Friday 31 May (to view our report click here)
Below is the response which came in today
“John,
Many thanks for your response to our consultation paper. I have responded below to the recommendations you have made in that report:
Recommendation 1 Return YCB services to L B Barnet – We do not believe that returning YCB services to LBB offers value for money for our customers and deals with the original drivers for the creation of Your Choice and therefore we do not agree with this recommendation.
Recommendation 2 Extend block contract – Whilst continuing on a block contract delays the need for some of the proposed changes, ultimately we do not believe that extending the block contract offers value for money, especially as this means LBB paying approximately £1million per year more than the market rate for these services. LBB appear to be satisfied the rates they have set in the marketplace deliver good value for money services and therefore our goal will be to continue to work towards delivering services at this rate. We therefore do not agree with this recommendation.
Recommendation 3 Retain enhancements for staff – We have decided to place this recommendation on hold pending the outcome of consultation with our customers
Recommendation 4 Cease the benchmarking exercise – We should be benchmarking and understanding the costs of delivering our services against our competitors in the marketplace and therefore we seek to continue to undertake this. As previously discussed we will seek to consult over any changes that we wish to make arising from this activity. We therefore do not agree with this recommendation.
Recommendation 5 Delete the post of Director of Social Care – I assume this is the Operations Director post for Your Choice, previously held by Amanda Jackson. I can confirm that this has been deleted.
Recommendation 6 Reinstate fully staffed night shifts – We have decided to place this recommendation on hold pending the outcome of consultation with our customers
Recommendation 7 Provide an undertaking that an independent forensic financial review is carried out to establish business sustainability and viability of YCB – I can confirm that we are satisfied that subject to achieving our overall target of savings, YCB is a sustainable and viable business and therefore do not agree with this recommendation.
Recommendation 8 Require Winterbourne training as mandatory for all Board members and senior management – We obviously already do provide full safeguarding training to all YCB staff and have just undertaken an external audit of our safeguarding policies and procedures which were found to be satisfactory, but I can confirm that we are willing to agree to this recommendation in principle, subject to understanding it in more detail so please lets have a further discussion about this.
In respect of the wider proposed changes I have listed an updated position in respect of these below, that we plan to announce shortly:
Senior management changes – The Board agreed to proceed with the deletion of the posts of Director of Operations at Your Choice and Deputy Manager at Valley Way. The current manager posts at Community Space, BILS and Supported Living will be deleted to create a single, more senior post. The recruitment process for this post is in progress.
Middle management changes -The Board agreed to proceed with the introduction of service co-ordinator roles at Community Space, BILS and Supported Living, replacing the previous management posts. The recruitment process for the eight service co-ordinators is in progress.
Co-location of Community Space and BILS -The Board agreed that, due to the poor condition of the Flightways building and the planned demolition, we still need to find an alternative venue – but that Community Space was not the right solution. We will work with families of BILS service users to identify a more suitable location.
Supported Living changes -The Board acknowledged that we had underestimated the impact on service users of the proposals to remove waking nights posts and to split the role of support workers. We therefore need to carry out consultation with families of supported living service users before this can be reconsidered. The recruitment process will be postponed until the new structures are agreed.
Reduction of Valley Way waking nights staff – The Board agreed this was still the preferred proposal but that consultation needs to be undertaken with families of Valley Way service users before this could be implemented.
We are seeking to move forward on the senior and middle management changes from from 1 July 2013, as previously planned and will obviously seek to adhere to all contractual notice periods. For the remaining proposed changes, we will put in place arrangements to consult with our customers on these immediately. Where individuals have agreed voluntary redundancy these will still be honoured, and for those services where further consideration is taking place, at the support worker and assistant support worker level, we will offer individuals the option to remain with the organisation pending the outcome of consultation or to leave as planned. If staff leave, temporary staff will be appointed to ensure service continuity.
Regards
Your Choice”