Austerity for whom – in Barnet Council?
Thanks to Barnet Blogger Mr Reasonable for tracking all Barnet Council payments over £500. The data is produced every quarter on the Council web site. All Council must publish this data.
In 2012 Barnet Council employed 2784 staff and consultant spend was £7,732, 269
In 2016 Barnet Council employs 1633 staff and consultant spend was £17, 907,052
For the first quarter of this year Barnet Council has spent £6,926,170 if this is pattern continues the Council could break £20,000,000 on agency/consultancy spend.
On Monday 12 September all Barnet Library staff were brought together to be told that 46% of staff will be sacked.
They are being sacked because this was the only way Barnet Council says they can save £2.85 million
I want to be clear on where Barnet UNISON stand on this disgraceful attack on the Barnet Library service.
This is not a transformation this an expensive destruction of an excellent Library service that only this year received a 93% customer satisfaction rating.
It is simply not sustainable for any politician in Barnet Council to continue to promote Austerity in one of the richest boroughs in London. Furthermore the rapidly growing population of Barnet makes a mockery of the destructive decimation of the Barnet Library service. We need to talking about increasing the Library Service not cutting and making it less safe for children and less accessible for people with disabilities.
The answer is clear for anyone who want to see.
Barnet UNISON has historically challenged senior officers in Barnet on their dependence on agency/consultancy, each year a new set of senior officers sit round the table and nod and agree that it needs addressing.
But take another look at the figures. They are increasing each year and at the same time the council work force is shrinking.
Then there are the ongoing redundancy payments Barnet Council is funding and remember this Barnet Council also funded the redundancy costs of the hundreds of jobs lost when Capita took over Council services in 2013 and moved jobs to Belfast, Blackburn, Carlisle etc.
Something is seriously wrong.
For the sake of all frontline services which includes social care and Libraries, Barnet Council need to drop the “outsourcing ideology” and tackle the agency/consultancy spend.
It’s not too late, drop the destructive plans for Barnet Library Service and let’s rebuild and support a frontline service that has the backing of Barnet residents.
Initial Response to Libraries Review Staff Consultation, 28th July 2016
Barnet UNISON response to Barnet Council sacking 46% of Library workers