Barnet UNISON

M 1% drop in income collection could expose the council to a loss of over £2.2 million in council tax collection just over £1.1 million in business rates.

M a loss of 1% in Council Tax subsidy would equate to £2.6million. Currently Barnet performs in the top six in London at maximising the reclaim from the DWP

M failure council to optimise its income could potentially result in unplanned future increases in council tax as result of non collection. 

M Failure to maximise the council tax base due to updates not being done in an accurate or timely fashion, discount and exemption entitlements not being effectively policed

M Any removal of key checks and balances, as suggested by the consultant’s report, will inevitably result in an increase in errors and deterioration in the detection and prevention of fraud.

M Customer care standards will drop as a result of the transfer of most types of contact to the contact call centre. Currently near to 100% of calls are resolved at first point of contact. The contact call centre aims to achieve only 80%.

M Cuts to management structure place undue burden on management’s capacity to deal with future planned legislative changes and therefore there is a risk to operational performance and meet set income targets

Executive summary here

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/869

Detailed report here http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/2012.05.02.UNISON%20response%20to%20Revenues%20and%20BenefitsFINAL.pdf

Evidence here http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/2012.05.02.UNISONAppendixesRevs&%20Bens.pdf

 

Earlier this week UNISON tabled a response to the proposed restructure of Housing Needs & Resources which you can read here

UNISON met with Barnet Homes as part of the HNR restructure consultation.

We raised our concerns about various aspects of the proposal and the implications for staff including the impact on team leadership, the duty senior system, levels of staff stress and lack of information on the call centre.

Barnet Homes have agreed to continue to work with us to mitigate the impact of some of these issues. We have asked for more information and will be meeting again with Barnet Homes next week.

 

 

 

 

Last Saturday it rained and it blew, but there was no way this UNISON gazebo was going to get blown down. This was the 3^rd week the pop-up library has taken place. Barnet UNISON has had a stall there on each occasion and the feedback and support we get is very positive. Speakers from the Save Friern Barnet Library Campaign, political parties, fellow trade unionists, including one from Camden addressed the people at the rally. A camera crew from the BBC’s One Show filmed the event.

One resident said at last weekend’s rally that it was important people understood the pop-up library was not there to replace the closed library staffed by qualified workers on decent wages as they cannot replace such a service. She said this library is about protest.

Residents have been working hard in an alliance with the unions to alert the population of Barnet to the dangers of this Council privatising en masse all of its services. The alliance has received an enormous boost from the showing of the film “A Tale of Two Barnets” and the occupation of the Friern Barnet Library as they have brought together activists from all the various campaigns. Some 1,000 residents have seen this film by now.

The strands of campaigns are coming together identifying common themes of phony democracy (or Mockracy) and the perils of privatisation as things they want to campaign against.

Our UNISON members in the Council should take heart and remember we have a community to win, but we have to be there.

Barnet Council Consultant says: “People should apply for the job if they like the look of it. Where it is, is important but perhaps less important. When I’m applying for a job I think firstly about the role. The location is really not that important.”

Unfortunately it is very important for most people and the colleagues in Social Care Direct are like most of us. Location, location, location – it’s important! This is one of the things they heard at the meeting today which told them that all Assessment Enablement Officers will be going into the Customer Call Centre.

There will be the opportunity for 2 professionally qualified colleagues to go with them. The other colleagues will be put into a Rapid Response Team or redeployed across the service. We do not yet know what a Rapid Response Team will look like. This is to be worked out in tandem with the process of the others going into the Call Centre.

The colleagues going into the Call Centre will then be transferred onto BT or Capita, sometime early in the New Year. It is not known if these companies intend to operate from Barnet.

The branch will be organising a union meeting for all Adult Social Services workers in the next 2 weeks or so. This restructure has big implications for all of us in this sector as there are potential knock-on effects in our workloads.

All Unions are consulting jointly and individually with management regarding the College’s middle management restructure.  Through these meetings many contributions have been made to the initial consultation paper given on 20 February 2012 and some amendments to the proposals have been agreed and have been included in the Consultation Paper Update given on 27 April 2012.

Management has confirmed that the Business Support  area will be reviewed in the Autumn term however UNISON has obtain agreement with management to run a joint administration review on the current services which will provide invaluable information to management prior to them issuing a new proposal for Business Support staff in the Autumn Term.

UNISON has also raised the issue with management about the inequality of London Weighting (LW) pay between the Teaching Staff and the Business Support staff and has asked for a justification for the disparity in pay.  UNISON has stated that the LW is an allowance paid to those who work in London within the public sector and was designed to help workers with the cost of living in London.  UNISON has asked the question that if both the teaching and business support staff work in the same buildings in London, why is there a difference in pay?  UNISON has also stated that in the interest of fairness and to ensure that no discriminatory practices are occurring surely LW must be calculated on a fair and transparent basis and applied consistently to all Barnet & Southgate College staff.  Management’s response was that they would look into the rationale for the difference in pay and report back at the next Union meeting.

UNISON is inviting all staff (both member and non-members) to an open meeting for all Southgate Campus Business Support Staff on Thursday 10^th May from 12.15-1.15pm or 1.15-2.15pm in the Lecture Theatre at Southgate Campus.  Please try to attend one of the sessions and bring a colleague with you.  This will be an occasion for staff to meet UNISON reps and provide further updates on the current restructuring process.  This will also provide the opportunity for potential new members to join UNISON.  Refreshments will be provided.

Christalla Tsattala

UNISON Barnet & Southgate Senior Steward

 

Executive Summary

 

Risks to Income and Future Council Tax Rates

The consultant’s proposal fails to provide a detailed risk analysis to justify saving of £650k per annum when only 1% drop in income collection could expose the council to a loss of over £2.2 million in council tax collection just over £1.1 million in business rates. Our analysis shows that 0.2% drop in income collection will wipe out the proposed saving £650k.

The consultant’s proposal neglects to address the risk to the Housing Benefit subsidy, currently at £260 million per annum reclaimed from the DWP. This is significant to the council as for example a loss of 1% in subsidy would equate to £2.6million. Currently Barnet performs in the top six in London at maximising the reclaim from the DWP. 

As their structure dramatically reduces expert resources the consultant report needs to include a specific risk analysis mitigating actions for realising set income targets.

 

The consultant’s proposal will not enable the council to optimise its income and as a result could potentially result in unplanned future increases in council tax as result of non collection.

 

Inadequate Management Capacity

The consultant’s proposal seeks to reduce the managers by 36% in the new structure for Revenues. This places undue burden on management’s capacity to deal with future planned legislative changes and therefore there is a risk to operational performance and meet set income targets. Additionally it leaves the council at risk to further change control charges by the contractor thus increasing the costs to Barnet and its residents.

Failure to maximise the council tax base due to updates not being done in an accurate or timely fashion, discount and exemption entitlements not being effectively policed

Financial and reputational risks to council from loss of specialist capacity, e.g. Court officer, NNDR, etc. It will no longer be possible to carry out all essential work, which will have a serious and far-reaching impact.

 

Private Sector does not Perform

The consultant’s have made the following statement in response to a question from staff:

“Southwark, Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Bexley are London Boroughs that have successfully outsourced their Revenues and Benefits services and most of them have higher in-year council tax collection rates than Barnet’s best performance in the last 5 years.”

The nationally published statistics provided by The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) confirms that the consultants’ above statement is factually inaccurate. We have provided the official data from DCLG on page 3 of this report and a further breakdown in Appendix 2.  Furthermore consultant’s conclusions have not been supported by meaningful benchmarking data and analysis.

 

Increased likely hood of Error and Fraud

Any removal of key checks and balances, as suggested by the consultant’s report, will inevitably result in an increase in errors and deterioration in the detection and prevention of fraud.

 

Deterioration of the Customer Experience

In this new fragmented business process the council will not be able to provide one stop quality experience to the customer.  Transferring of calls and artificial tier creation will result in a duplication of effort and delays in responses. This will inevitably result in an increase in overall workload and inefficient processes as callers and email traffic will be passed from one department to another, as it is impossible to tell what tier the call or email is at the point of contact.

Customer care standards will drop as a result of the transfer of most types of contact to the contact call centre. Currently near to 100% of calls are resolved at first point of contact. The contact call centre aims to achieve only 80%.

To read full report click here and here

Introduction

Barnet UNISON is committed to supporting our members working in Housing Needs and Resources who deliver a high profile services to some of the most vulnerable members of our community. It is important to us that our members that they are able to carry out their work in a safe and healthy work environment. It is the view of UNISON that this restructure presents a number of concerns some of which could have an impact on the health and well being of our members as well as the overall efficiency of the service.

To view full report click here

On Friday I was supposed to doing a million other tasks but as is the case in the UNISON office something always bigger and more crazy turns up and today it did!

Friday 27 April was the last Friday Parking workers will be working for Barnet Council. On Tuesday they are due to be handed over to their new employer NSL and for some staff a sub contractor called RR Donnelley.

It is no secret that staff would prefer to be working for the Council, but sadly the Council ignored the views of staff and UNISON and outsourced the service. It is also no secret that most of the staff currently working in the back office will be made redundant. On Tuesday staff have to report to the NSL Office in Solar House in Finchley where they will be handed ‘at risk of redundancy’ letters. Again this is not new. What has been truly devastating for our members is the recent personal data protection breaches. Late yesterday afternoon members reported that copies of letters were being handed out to staff. The letters were supposed to be confirmation of the personal data being transferred to the new contractor. Instead member noticed they had been handed inaccurate information and in some cases personal information about other members of staff. If that wasn’t enough, this morning I was greeted by angry staff reporting that letters had been posted to staff with other people’s personal data.

UNISON has demanded an investigation into these serious breaches and I have been informed an investigation is taking place. In the interim complaints are going to be submitted to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). Our members are clearly upset and distressed about what has happened after providing years of loyal and hard working service to the Council.

In the interim the branch has done the following

We have contacted the councils Data Protection officer and we have been notified that an investigation has commenced. We have also requested the following information

• Can you let me know what advice and training been provided to the Parking contract monitoring staff to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act (DPA).
• What requirements have been communicated to the main contractor and any subsequent sub contractor to ensure such compliance?
• What processes are in place to ensure DPA compliance at the client side by the main contractor and subsequent sub contractor?
• Can you provide me with details of what percentage of staff currently working on the Parking Services outsourcing contract have received DPA training?
• In view of the fact there has been a previous serious data protection breach within Parking Service within the last three months, please provide me a copy of the investigation report which will include any recommendations

I am sure all UNISON members will be shocked to hear this news. It would be nice if all UNISON members could send messages of support to the Parking workers to contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

“We’re known in the community for being a place where you can get easy advice”

“The child care is a universal service and so therefore it is non-judgemental – there’s no stigma attached to using the Children’s Centre for a lot of other support”

“We get to know the parents as they access the Children’s Centre for childcare. We get to develop a relationship with them which means we pick up when they’re not doing too good. It’s preventative.”

“The beauty of our service is that it’s seamless. The parents and children get all round support.”

“We had a toddler join us with learning problems that the mother was in denial about. With team work from the teacher, SENCO and observations from the key worker, gentle persuasion and talking to the mother she has at last agreed to come to a drop in speech therapy session. All the background work happened in the child care nursery! This is just one of many examples and this family wasn’t referred, they just came in off the street.”

“Without the childcare i.e. the daily contact with the children and their parents through teaching the children and key working them, the staff would not have the opportunity to form relationships with the families.”

“Families can get support without having to ask for it – we are a route to them getting support.”

Thank to all members/ reps/ and the schools who have replied to our letter, the vast majority of Schools who have contacted us  are making the adjustment to peoples contract so they will get an extra weeks pay after 5 years service, some individuals have made local arrangements and UNISON has no problem with that the key point being that people are aware of the contract commitment and get the extra week holiday/pay.

Under Barnet terms and condition all Barnet employees and people who are covered by Barnet terms and conditions (Academy’s) have an extra week holiday after 5 years service Schools were not aware of this with regards the 2005  TA agreements and we took the step of contacting all Schools and all Staff outlining the options to date  most replies have been in favour of Option B which is

After 5 Years Service automatically alter contract increasing contracted  day by one week but maintain existing days worked.

A good number of Head teacher have already made the adjustments and more will follow.

I would like to thank the individuals who have been proactive in Schools. If you have not made arrangements in your school please contact louis.smyth@barnetunison.org.uk

Regards.