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Dear Colleagues

I understand that you have received an invite (see here) to meet with CAPITA on the following days

Friday 23^rd March

Monday 26^th March

I hope you take up this offer to meet the Bidders as I know you will have many questions which I hope they will be able to answer.

Several weeks ago I wrote to the Council seeking a meeting with the Bidders, this request has been refused.

For your information last year Barnet UNISON wrote to all the companies taking part in Dialogue 1 for NSCSO. To date we have not had a reply I hope you all fare better.

Barnet UNISON 6 key questions

Your proposed new model of service delivery

1. Please describe how you would develop and improve all of the services throughout the whole life of the contract. In particular, please outline your plans for

innovative and continuous improvement

achieving and monitoring high levels of customer satisfaction

effective consultation and engagement with residents, officers and members

involving the staff and trade unions and detail what role they will have in this process

meeting the Council’s target of 10% cost savings and the 5% increase in income?

2. How are you going to be able to maximise the opportunities provided by links with other organisations, the development of central government’s agenda for local authorities and the opportunities for inward investment of all kinds that will be available as a result of the Councils regeneration programmes.

Please describe what measures you will put in place to address this aim, including each council service in your response.

3. In these ever changing global economic times how do you propose to meet the Council’s ever changing strategic requirements?

These are likely to be substantial, and might be due to (for example) changes in the council’s political leadership, central government objectives or relevant changes in legislation that we want to or must account for.

4. What do you see as the key financial, operational, democratic governance and employment risks in this contract and how do you propose to mitigate these risks?

5. Central Government recognises that LG has a key role to play in stimulating economic growth locally. This contract is looking to make significant cost reduction and income generation please provide details as to how you aim to reach these targets with details of the effect on the economic activity within the borough over the course of the contract period?

What contribution can you make to regeneration in Barnet, in particular, the creation of additional employment opportunities for local people and the use of local sub contractors? Will you engage sub contractors on a similar price structure as the main contract to encourage local firms and employment?

6. Do you plan to bid for all the services in the ITPD and which services will be delivered by subcontractors? How do you plan to monitor their performance?

* =  Local Government

** = Invitation to Participate in Dialogue

Best wishes

John Burgess

Branch Secretary.

Barnet UNISON

 

World Premiere launch of a community film called “A TALE OF TWO BARNETS!”

The film is being shown at Phoenix Cinema East Finchley on Monday 19 March from 6pm, film screening 7pm

You can read more about the film here http://ataleoftwobarnets.yolasite.com/

Ken Loach introduces the film here

http://ataleoftwobarnets.yolasite.com/gallery-and-trailers.php

Contact details

http://ataleoftwobarnets.yolasite.com/contact-us.php

Email and UNISON report (click here) sent to Cabinet Resources Committee and all other councillors

Dear members of Cabinet Resources Committee  

 

The New Support and Customer Services Organisation: Business Case Update and Shortlist for Dialogue 2 was uploaded onto the Councils website last Tuesday. UNISON have been consulting their members  on the content of the report.

 

I hope that you will have the opportunity to read and digest our response.

 

I want to draw you attention to section 1 of our report, which highlights what is by far the biggest risk to date the Council are taking.

 

1. The £600m Revenues and Benefits risk

The Council’s Revenue and Benefits Serviceadministers £230m benefits each year and collects £250m council tax and over £100m business rates. This service has a major role in many people’s lives. It also has a vital role in providing resources to ensure the sustainability of Council services. Thus service continuity is essential.

 

Three significant risks are not addressed in the Business Case Update:

·         The switchover to Universal Credit and the potential impact on those in receipt of benefit in Barnet has been raised as a major change/risk following its initial announcement. However, outsourcing the service immediately before a radical new benefit system comes into effect will mean the contract will be subject to large-scale variations. Changes to contracts provide contractors with opportunities to increase costs. In this situation they could be considerable. Once the business expertise is lost to the contractors, Barnet Council will have little understanding to counter contractor’s claims. 

 

·         The impact of potential delays in the government’s Universal Credit timetable (April and October 2013) due to the lack of, or operational problems, in new information technology systems.

 

·         Barnet Council’s planned changes in service delivery and working practices (through a restructure) in Revenues and Benefits. Since the SAP CRM system was procured several years ago, followed by the proposals to fragment complex business processes, there has been a failure to recognise that a single call centre model does not work. It is interesting to note that the Business Case refers to a PI target for the call centre of 80% of calls being handled at the first point of contact compared to current Revenue and Benefits performance of 100% of calls being handled at the first point of contact.

The history of new Information technology systems is littered with failed timetables, cost overruns and poor service delivery, including outsourced revenue and benefits contracts (Whitfield, 2007). The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee recently concluded:

 

“…the introduction of Universal Credit is dependent upon the successful implementation of new IT, and this requires effective resourcing of the IT back office support services in the Department. Furthermore, the Department is assuming running costs reductions from an optimistic expectation that most customers will communicate online with the Department. Both of these areas are high risk, and any delays are likely to impact on planned cost reductions. There are insufficient contingencies in place and services could be adversely affected if things do not go to plan. Too often this Committee has highlighted examples in other government departments where IT systems or projects have gone off track and emerging problems have gone unchallenged by staff (PAC, 2011).

 

Revenue and Benefits staff believe that the proposed restructuring of the service, the adoption of a call centre model and the planned adoption of generic job descriptions could result in a significant reduction in the quality of service.

 

The substantial risks for revenue and benefits are not included in the Risk Assessment Issues in Business Case Update. This should be rectified as a matter of urgency. The Council appears to be complacent, relying on the contractor to solve these problems and reduce risk:“Their scale and expertise also enables them to change and negotiate changes to the technological platform for the service with far greater ease than the council could manage alone”(London Borough of Barnet 2012, page 3).

 

Best wishes

John Burgess

Branch Secretary.

Barnet UNISON

0208 359 2088

www.barnetunison.me.uk

Barnet UNISON “Watch it & Share it”

Barnet UNISON Facebook

Barnet UNISON Twitter

Defend Our Pensions

 

 

 

Dear Colleagues

I understand that on Friday 2 March you have been invited to meet with Capita Symonds. I hope you take up this offer to meet the Bidders as I know you will have many questions which I hope they will be able to answer.

Two weeks ago I wrote to the Council seeking a meeting with the Bidders, this request has been refused.

For your information last year Barnet UNISON wrote to all the companies taking part in Dialogue 1 for DRS. To date we have not had a reply I hope you all fare better.

Barnet UNISON 6 key questions

Your proposed new model of service delivery

1. Please describe how you would develop and improve all of the services throughout the whole life of the contract. In particular, please outline your plans for

innovative and continuous improvement

achieving and monitoring high levels of customer satisfaction

effective consultation and engagement with residents, officers and members

involving the staff and trade unions and detail what role they will have in this process

meeting the Council’s target of 10% cost savings and the 5% increase in income?

2. How are you going to be able to maximise the opportunities provided by links with other organisations, the development of central government’s agenda for local authorities and the opportunities for inward investment of all kinds that will be available as a result of the Councils regeneration programmes.

Please describe what measures you will put in place to address this aim, including each council service in your response.

3. In these ever changing global economic times how do you propose to meet the Council’s ever changing strategic requirements?

These are likely to be substantial, and might be due to (for example) changes in the council’s political leadership, central government objectives or relevant changes in legislation that we want to or must account for.

4. What do you see as the key financial, operational, democratic governance and employment risks in this contract and how do you propose to mitigate these risks?

5. Central Government recognises that LG has a key role to play in stimulating economic growth locally. This contract is looking to make significant cost reduction and income generation please provide details as to how you aim to reach these targets with details of the effect on the economic activity within the borough over the course of the contract period?

What contribution can you make to regeneration in Barnet, in particular, the creation of additional employment opportunities for local people and the use of local sub contractors? Will you engage sub contractors on a similar price structure as the main contract to encourage local firms and employment?

6. Do you plan to bid for all the services in the ITPD and which services will be delivered by subcontractors? How do you plan to monitor their performance?

* =  Local Government

** = Invitation to Participate in Dialogue

Best wishes

John Burgess

Branch Secretary.

Barnet UNISON

On Wednesday 22 February Housing council workers attended the first TUPE meeting with Barnet Homes and asked the following questions.

1. Is the restructure mentioned in the measures letter dated the 19^th January a measure?  What is the Operations Directorate mentioned in the letter?  If the restructure is a measure presumably the consultation will start once we have been transferred over.

 

2. Are we facing a situation where we could be tupe’d over and face having 30 days notice served on us as there are less than 100 staff in HNR.

If this is the case will we immediately be served with “at risk” letters and will this lead to compulsory redundancies?

 

3. Barnet Homes is funded through Housing Revenue Account and we understand that this cannot be used for HNR staff.  The General Fund money that HNR staff will be being transferred with – is this ring fenced just for general fund activities i.e. not related to Council Tenants.  If so how do you propose to demonstrate that this money is being used solely for this purpose?

 

4. We understand that there is a time pressure on saving money due to the reduction in the budget.  As part of the natural wastage we keep hearing about will there be voluntary redundancies allowed?  Will you also be looking at other ways to save money other than reductions in staff which will have a direct impact on our already struggling service?

 

5. If jobs are to be downgraded how will you consult on this and how long will grades be protected?

 

6. How long is the existing Barnet Homes contact with Barnet Council and how much of that contact is outstanding as an ALMO?  Is it likely to be renewed as an ALMO?  If not what status does Barnet Homes have outside the LATC? 

 

7. Capita are applying for some contracts – is there a relationship between Barnet Homes and Capita.

 

8. Data is being delivered to find out how many posts will go into the Call Centre.  Will posts be going from Barnet Homes and HNR as a collective into the call centre?

 

9. Can staff be TUPE’d across from Barnet Homes into the LATC? 

 

 

Dear Colleagues

I understand that tomorrow you have been invited to meet with FM Conway and EC Harris. I hope you take up this offer to meet the Bidders as I know you will have many questions which I hope they will be able to answer.

Two weeks ago I wrote to the Council seeking a meeting with the Bidders, this request has been refused.

For your information last year Barnet UNISON wrote to all the companies taking part in Dialogue 1 for DRS. To date we have not had a reply I hope you all fare better.

Barnet UNISON 6 key questions

Your proposed new model of service delivery

1. Please describe how you would develop and improve all of the services throughout the whole life of the contract. In particular, please outline your plans for

·         innovative and continuous improvement

·         achieving and monitoring high levels of customer satisfaction

·         effective consultation and engagement with residents, officers and members

·         involving the staff and trade unions and detail what role they will have in this process

·         meeting the Council’s target of 10% cost savings and the 5% increase in income?

 

2. How are you going to be able to maximise the opportunities provided by links with other organisations, the development of central government’s agenda for local authorities and the opportunities for inward investment of all kinds that will be available as a result of the Councils regeneration programmes.

Please describe what measures you will put in place to address this aim, including each council service in your response.

 

3. In these ever changing global economic times how do you propose to meet the Council’s ever changing strategic requirements?

These are likely to be substantial, and might be due to (for example) changes in the council’s political leadership, central government objectives or relevant changes in legislation that we want to or must account for.

 

4. What do you see as the key financial, operational, democratic governance and employment risks in this contract and how do you propose to mitigate these risks?

 

5. Central Government recognises that LG has a key role to play in stimulating economic growth locally. This contract is looking to make significant cost reduction and income generation please provide details as to how you aim to reach these targets with details of the effect on the economic activity within the borough over the course of the contract period?

·         What contribution can you make to regeneration in Barnet, in particular, the creation of additional employment opportunities for local people and the use of local sub contractors? Will you engage sub contractors on a similar price structure as the main contract to encourage local firms and employment?

6. Do you plan to bid for all the services in the ITPD and which services will be delivered by subcontractors? How do you plan to monitor their performance?

 

* =  Local Government

** = Invitation to Participate in Dialogue

 

Best wishes

John Burgess

Branch Secretary.

Barnet UNISON

 

 

 

 

 

Project X was one of the action to be completed on the last day of One Barnet strike action on Thursday 9 February.

Letters were sent to 6 Big private sector companies

The letters were signed by staff currently working in services which are down to be outsourced early 2013.

This is what was in the letter

Dear Chief Executive

We are employees for the London Borough of Barnet providing services which your company is interested in taking over. We are currently in dispute with our employer, London Borough of Barnet, as we wish to remain working for the authority and to be based in Barnet.

We want to take this opportunity on the fourth day of strike action to pass on this message that staff want to remain employees of Barnet Council. This is not a reflection of the way we view your business. We hope that you will take our position into consideration in your ongoing discussions with Barnet Council.

Yours sincerely,

John Burgess

Branch Secretary

Barnet UNISON

Proof of delivery to

Serco,

BT,

Capita,

FM Conway,

EC Harris,

HCL Axon (consortium)

*** UPDATE since we delivered the letters, the Council annouced yesterday that BT & Capita were selected to go through to the next round and Serco and HCL Axon (consortium) were unsuccessful.

 

 

 

 

It is really is important that members are members of the Local Government Pension Scheme. You can opt in to the scheme by completing a form.

To download the form click here

 

Just to confirm that at one of the staff briefings today council workers were told that BT & Capita were two successful bidders through to the next round of the £750million pound contract to run support services and a call centre.

The unlucky bidders were Serco and HCL Axon (Consortium)

A fuller report will be produced in due course.

 

 

The staggering news coming out of Somerset reinforces Barnet UNISON’s concerns about the evidence to support the savings claimed by the One Barnet projects.

SouthwestOne involves one of the biggest Multinational companies in the world. It was touted as a no brainer by its supporters. It was shrouded in secrecy, but residents, politicans and staff were told it was the best way to prepare for the future.

The comments coming from the Conservative Leader of Somerset Council are extraordinary

 “failing to deliver promised savings; failing to cope with a changing financial landscape; failing to be flexible enough to adapt in challenging times and provide the best possible value for money.”

All of these points have been repeatedly raised by UNISON is the countless number of reports we have been producing over the last four years.

Take a look at the latest news coming out of Somerset.

The Conservative leader of Somerset County Council, Councillor Ken Maddock

 “I have to say that Southwest One is failing this test. We are currently looking at all our services and all our contracts to see whether we are doing the best we can for our customers, whether we are providing the best possible services for our customers and at the best possible prices for our customers.

“We need a council that can cope with future government cuts and rising demand. 

“Sadly, Southwest One is failing. It is failing to deliver promised savings; failing to cope with a changing financial landscape; failing to be flexible enough to adapt in challenging times and provide the best possible value for money.

 http://www.tauntonpeople.co.uk/Budget-cut-private-policy-fails/story-15245728-detail/story.html

Somerset County Council says SouthWest One ‘not delivering’

In 2007, the IBM won an administration and back office task contract, to save the Conservative-led authority about £180m, over 10 years.

“SouthWest One’s accounts year-on-year, show losses, staggering losses, just published of £31m, and failures to meet modest savings targets,” said Mr Maddock.

“Mr Maddock said as a result of its performance, a review would be carried out on all council services in order to achieve the savings it needed, a figure he estimated to be £20m.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-17066330

Southwest One gets £10m IBM loan amid ‘staggering’ losses

The leader of Somerset county council, Ken Maddock, has said that Southwest One is failing to deliver, that its accounts show “staggering losses” of £31.5m and “failures to hit modest savings targets”.

Southwest One was set up in 2007 as a joint venture between IBM, Somerset county council, Taunton Deane borough council and Avon and Somerset police to modernise the public sector bodies’ business processes.

Maddock told a council meeting: “It is failing to deliver promised savings; failing to cope with a changing financial landscape; failing to be flexible enough to adapt in challenging times and provide the best possible value for money.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2012/feb/16/southwest-one-ibm-loan-council?newsfeed=true

 

IBM hook-up with councils loses £31.5m By Gill Hitchcock, Guardian Government Computing, 17 February, 2012

The leader of Somerset county council, Ken Maddock, has said that Southwest One is failing to deliver, that its accounts show “staggering losses” of £31.5m and “failures to hit modest savings targets”.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/business-of-it/2012/02/17/ibm-hook-up-with-councils-loses-315m-40095068/

 

‘Failing’ Southwest One comes under fire from Somerset County Council leader

A controversial venture set up to save taxpayers millions of pounds has lost £31 million and is so inflexible that it is making the job of finding savings even harder.

The Conservative leader of Somerset County Council, Councillor Ken Maddock, launched a blistering attack on the public-private partnership Southwest One at the council’s packed budget-fixing meeting yesterday.

http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Failing-Southwest-comes-Somerset-County-Council/story-15242751-detail/story.html

Southwest One receives IBM rescue loan

Southwest One, the troubled West Country council shared services venture, has confirmed it has received urgent funding from its supplier.

IBM has issued a multimillion pound loan to Southwest One, in order to keep the venture afloat. Southwest One, in its latest annual accounts issued this month, reported a £31 million loss.

http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/public-sector/3338025/southwest-one-bailed-out-by-ibm/