My hero in 2015? The man with the plan to beat the cuts.

My hero in 2015? The man with the plan to beat the cuts.

Please see link above to this article in the Guardian on Tuesday 22 December 2015, about our branch secretary, John Burgess. It is almost unheard of for a branch secretary to get this kind of coverage in a national newspaper and is a testimony to the work John has done over the years and to the work of many of our branch members and activists. There are more John Burgess’s and there is an urgent need to bring people together to fight for a better union on the national stage so that our chances of success in the battles to come are greatly improved.

Helen Davies, Branch Chair Barnet UNISON

 

 

 

STOP PRESS: 92% of Barnet Council staff now face outsourcing

On Wednesday 25 November Chancellor George Osborne will announce details of his Comprehensive Spending Review. Barnet Council agreed at their Policy & Resources Committee, 9 July 2015 that their Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) needed to deliver £81.1 million in budget cuts.

A large part of the strategy is outsourcing and becoming a commissioning council, outsourcing their staff to other employers and asking them to deliver the staff savings.

On Wednesday 18 November councillors on Children, Education, and Libraries & Safeguarding Committee agreed to award a contract to global multinational giant Mott MacDonald.

This decision which still has to be ratified at a Full Council meeting on Tuesday 8 December 2015 will mean 476 Council workers transfer out of the Council to the private contractor.

At the same meeting councillors agreed to add staff working in Family Services to the ever growing outsourcing pipeline, aka Barnet Commissioning Council. This outsourcing project includes children’s social workers (child protection), children centre workers and youth workers among others.

At the Performance and Contract Management Committee, on Tuesday 17th November the following staffing figures were produced:

1. Education & Skills and Catering 300.93 full time equivalent posts

2. Street Scene services 428.46 full time equivalent posts

3. Library Service 114 full time equivalent posts).

4. Adults & Communities 235.71 full time equivalent posts

5. Family services 461.31 full time equivalent posts. Library figures have been excluded

6. Commissioning Group 147.87 full time equivalent posts

The decision to add all staff working in Family Services to the outsourcing project means that 92% (1,540.41 full time equivalents) of the current Barnet Council workforce are now facing the likelihood of being outsourced.

This would leave only council staff working in the Commissioning Group as Council employees. 

UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said: On Wednesday 25 November the Chancellor George Osborne will provide the details to his Comprehensive Spending Review. It is the worst kept secret that his review will lead to damaging future for social care and public services. The attack will be delivered by either cuts and or mass outsourcing.  The model for the sell-off of the NHS has been hatched and delivered here in Barnet. We have had 7 years of Future Shape, Easy Council, One Barnet and now Commissioning Council and we are finally at the point we predicted back in 2008, that the Council was looking to handover their staff to other employers, leaving behind a small core of workers. Whilst the Council will claim that decisions have not been made, staff in Barnet are fully aware of the ‘direction of travel’ for staff and will now be no doubt be making their own plans. This news presents a serious risk particularly for social services as social workers are highly likely to consider moving elsewhere. There is already a social work recruitment and retention crisis in Barnet this news is unlikely to help.”

End.

Notes to Editors.

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

Background:

Six years ago Barnet Council introduced a policy known as Future Shape which morphed into ‘easyCouncil’*.This imposed a series of tariffs on residents wishing to access a range of services. A basic service would be offered to residents at a fixed price, but ‘fast track’ services might be available if you paid extra.

This approach was quickly abandoned by the consultant driven One Barnet Programme, which led to the following Council Services being outsourced/privatised in the space of three years:

1. Social Care for Adults with disabilities to Your Choice Barnet

2. Housing Options to Barnet Homes

3. Parking Services to NSL

4. Revenues & Benefits, IT, HR & Payroll, Pensions, Health & Safety, Finance, Estates, Property Services, Procurement, Projects all now part of Capita CSG

5. Environmental Health, Planning, Building Control, Hendon Cemetery & Crematorium, Highways, Trading Standards & Licensing all now Capita RE

6. Legal Services

7. Registrars & Nationality Services

8. CCTV

9. Music Trust

10. Public Health

11. Mortuary Services.

Over the past three years our members have seen hundreds of colleagues transferred to other employers. This has often meant redundancy as the new employer moved jobs out of the borough and Greater London to places as far afield as Belfast, Carlisle, Coventry, Southampton and Darlington.

STOP PRESS: 92% of Barnet Council staff now face outsourcing

On Wednesday 25 November Chancellor George Osborne will announce details of his Comprehensive Spending Review. Barnet Council agreed at their Policy & Resources Committee, 9 July 2015 that their Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) needed to deliver £81.1 million in budget cuts.

A large part of the strategy is outsourcing and becoming a commissioning council, outsourcing their staff to other employers and asking them to deliver the staff savings.

On Wednesday 18 November councillors on Children, Education, and Libraries & Safeguarding Committee agreed to award a contract to global multinational giant Mott MacDonald.

This decision which still has to be ratified at a Full Council meeting on Tuesday 8 December 2015 will mean 476 Council workers transfer out of the Council to the private contractor.

At the same meeting councillors agreed to add staff working in Family Services to the ever growing outsourcing pipeline, aka Barnet Commissioning Council. This outsourcing project includes children’s social workers (child protection), children centre workers and youth workers among others.

At the Performance and Contract Management Committee, on Tuesday 17th November the following staffing figures were produced:

1. Education & Skills and Catering 300.93 full time equivalent posts

2. Street Scene services 428.46 full time equivalent posts

3. Library Service 114 full time equivalent posts).

4. Adults & Communities 235.71 full time equivalent posts

5. Family services 461.31 full time equivalent posts. Library figures have been excluded

6. Commissioning Group 147.87 full time equivalent posts

The decision to add all staff working in Family Services to the outsourcing project means that 92% (1,540.41 full time equivalents) of the current Barnet Council workforce are now facing the likelihood of being outsourced.

This would leave only council staff working in the Commissioning Group as Council employees. 

UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said: On Wednesday 25 November the Chancellor George Osborne will provide the details to his Comprehensive Spending Review. It is the worst kept secret that his review will lead to damaging future for social care and public services. The attack will be delivered by either cuts and or mass outsourcing.  The model for the sell-off of the NHS has been hatched and delivered here in Barnet. We have had 7 years of Future Shape, Easy Council, One Barnet and now Commissioning Council and we are finally at the point we predicted back in 2008, that the Council was looking to handover their staff to other employers, leaving behind a small core of workers. Whilst the Council will claim that decisions have not been made, staff in Barnet are fully aware of the ‘direction of travel’ for staff and will now be no doubt be making their own plans. This news presents a serious risk particularly for social services as social workers are highly likely to consider moving elsewhere. There is already a social work recruitment and retention crisis in Barnet this news is unlikely to help.”

End.

Notes to Editors.

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

Background:

Six years ago Barnet Council introduced a policy known as Future Shape which morphed into ‘easyCouncil’*.This imposed a series of tariffs on residents wishing to access a range of services. A basic service would be offered to residents at a fixed price, but ‘fast track’ services might be available if you paid extra.

This approach was quickly abandoned by the consultant driven One Barnet Programme, which led to the following Council Services being outsourced/privatised in the space of three years:

1. Social Care for Adults with disabilities to Your Choice Barnet

2. Housing Options to Barnet Homes

3. Parking Services to NSL

4. Revenues & Benefits, IT, HR & Payroll, Pensions, Health & Safety, Finance, Estates, Property Services, Procurement, Projects all now part of Capita CSG

5. Environmental Health, Planning, Building Control, Hendon Cemetery & Crematorium, Highways, Trading Standards & Licensing all now Capita RE

6. Legal Services

7. Registrars & Nationality Services

8. CCTV

9. Music Trust

10. Public Health

11. Mortuary Services.

Over the past three years our members have seen hundreds of colleagues transferred to other employers. This has often meant redundancy as the new employer moved jobs out of the borough and Greater London to places as far afield as Belfast, Carlisle, Coventry, Southampton and Darlington.

History of the outsourcing of Schools Meals and Education & Skills services

For the past 18 months Barnet Council has prepared plans for the future of School Meals and Education & Skills.

From the outset the fate of approx 430 workers was always going to be outsourcing. However as per previous practice the outsourcing pantomime was played out in a number of committee reports to the Children’s, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee (CELS).

Barnet UNISON responded at each stage.

1. In September 2014 we produced “Commercialising Education and Skills Future Delivery of Services to Schools London Borough of Barnet” click here

2. In January 2015 we produced “Education & Skills and Catering Analysis of Options Appraisal” click here

3. In June 2015 we produced “Education & Skills and Catering, Threat of large-scale subcontracting”click here

4. Later in June 2015 when we heard Capita had pulled out of contract talks we produced “Education & Skills and Catering UPDATE 30 June 2015” click here

5. Finally in November 2015 we produced Catering Services “Jewel in the Crown”, Privatisation of Education & Skills and Catering in Barnet click here

There is a significant lack of transparency over the award of this contract exacerbated by the lack of financial details made publicly available and the fact there was only one bidder as the two other bidders had withdrawn from the bidding process. Furthermore the Council is handing over the Schools Meals Service to a private contractor without any competition. Under this arrangement the Council will now have to share the profit with the contractors at a time when they are proposing cuts to frontline services.

UNISON in our final report have made the following recommendations

1. The Council should retain the Catering Service in-house and place it within Family Services Delivery Unit in order that all the profits can support frontline services, which are threatened by budget cuts. It should draw up a Public Service Innovation and Improvement Plan for the future of the Catering Service jointly with schools and staff.

 

2. Elected members should require a detailed breakdown of the £1.5m cost of the Education and Skills outsourcing, in particular the £250,000 expenditure on ‘commercial advisers’ cited in the Full Business Case (p35).

Barnet UNISON: ‘Statement on the council’s report ‘Barnet future library service’

The council’s proposal “Barnet future library service” is a plan to replace qualified, experienced staff who have a wide range of skills and knowledge with volunteers and machines, and to reduce the size and quality of libraries. The people of Barnet, including our members, did not march, lobby, sign petitions and respond to the consultation in support of volunteer and machine operated libraries. They were defending a service staffed by real library staff, libraries with enough space for people to study, use IT facilities and to house sufficient items for loan to meet the needs of their users. If the proposal is adopted then Barnet libraries will no longer offer a service that meets the needs of the people of the borough and this will lead into a decline in use and a rationale for further cuts and closure.

● If the proposal is adopted 46% of library posts will be cut

● Staffed hours at libraries will be reduced by 70.4%

● 90% of the planned technology supported opening hours will have no staffing or volunteer support

● Four partnership libraries will be run by volunteers and open only for a minimum of 15 hours per week

● Libraries will be reduced in size, and only four will retain enough space to host events such as story times and authors’ talk

This proposal will not only lead to a decline in the quality and range of the Library Service but will be unjustifiably expensive to implement, costing £7.56m. This is 4.4 times as much as the cuts to be made in in the library service annual operational budget. Barnet UNISON also have concerns regarding the safety of unstaffed ibraries, particularly on how libraries will be evacuated in the event of an emergency, and how anti-social behaviour will be deal with. These issues remain to be sufficiently address by the council.

Barnet UNISON calls on the council to

· Withdraw the proposal

· Retain direct provision of the Library Service

Changes to the Library Service should only be made after the council:

1. Undertake a rigorous and comprehensive equality impact assessment of the potential effect of the technology-enabled opening hours

2. Include the impact on staff in any equality analysis.

3. Run a consultation process that prioritises the views of service users and groups and organisations that are potential users of library services and facilities.

 

Hugh Jordan, Branch Health and Safety Officer/Libraries Convenor, Barnet UNISON

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: “Now they want to outsource social work!”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: “Now they want to outsource social work!”

At the Adults and Safeguarding Committee on Thursday 12th November, 2015 7pm councillors will be making the following decisions:

1. To agree the proposed approach to developing an outline business case for an alternative delivery model.

2. To engage with potential partners and providers to test their appetite and capability to deliver all or some of the ADM.

3. To delete 46 posts (42 in the first year and 4 in the second year)

The report recommends replacing qualified workers with non- professionally qualified workers in order that the alternative delivery model makes the required staff savings.

The following extracts from Barnet UNISON’s report sent to councillors raises these points amongst others:

· “The potential fragmentation of ASC and care contractor provision with too many services or functions provided by different organisations could lead to poorly coordinated and integrated services. (page 5)

· This looks like a repeat of the Your Choice Barnet scenario when Barnet Council ignored Barnet UNISON’s analysis, which forecast a financial crisis that led to job losses, wage cuts and an inadequate CQC rating.

· The Council report does not explain what other options were considered, nor does it identify the criteria by which the options were evaluated, which undermines the assumptions made.

UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said: Quite frankly the proposals scare the life out of me. Whilst management try to play down the significance of yet another options appraisal, Barnet staff are wearied by the relentless outsourcing and have no confidence that councillors will turn away from the expensive outsourcing fundamentalism which has taken control of the council strategic thinking for the past seven years. Barnet staff are already seeing the consequences from previous outsourcing both in terms of service quality and attacks to the workforce. Barnet is already offering Barnet staff £500 if they refer a social worker. If this decision gets the go ahead then the growing social work crisis could become a mass exodus if the council remains wedded to outsourcing this service.

End.

Notes to Editors.

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

1. “Outsourcing, Cuts, Job Losses & New Operating Model” Barnet UNISON

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/Barnet%20UNISON%20ASC%20response%20.pdf

2. CQC ; Barnet Supported Living Service

http://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-112848964

3. “We told you so!” UNISON response to Care Quality Commission (CQC) poor ratings” Barnet UNISON

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/YCB%20PRESS%20RELEASE%20MARCH%2010%202015.pdf

 

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