Over 800 EasyCouncil Council staff to be shown the door

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Critics of the Future Shape/EasyCouncil/One Barnet programme have gone on the record that despite all the rhetoric about new and innovative approaches to service delivery the Council are simply embarking on mass privatisation. Unlike the failed privatisation projects (also known as Compulsory Competitive Tendering CCT) this time they are attempting to privatise the whole council.

“Is this an exaggeration?”

This week almost 800 staff working in a number of council services were told that their days working for the Council were numbered.

I attended 7 staff briefings earlier this week and listened to claims  that the Option Appraisal was an objective & evidence based process!

Furthermore staff were told that the decision was not predetermined, however I can report that staff do not believe that and I think I can say with confidence that they know this is a political decision.

It is becoming increasingly clear that we are facing the return of the mad dogma known as “Private Good Public Bad!”

In the briefings staff asked about business cases and evidence behind the decision, but we all know that there is no evidence behind these projects.

The Trade Union reports produced by Professor Dexter Whitfield have exposed the lack of evidence and inconsistency in the above programme. Last year Grant Thornton the external auditor detailed a number of serious risks about this Programme.

So why do I make this claim. I thought I would look at the list of services that have already gone through the first stage of Future Shape.

Take a look at the number of council services all of which have gone through an Options Appraisals and all have produced a decision to privatise with the exception of Legal service (apparently there isn’t market for Legal Services, amazing really considering how often the Council goes to the private sector law firms for legal advice!).

Mass privatisation……?

24 out of 25 Council services have now been told they are to be privatised!  

  1. Building Control & Structures
  2. Planning (Development Management)
  3. Strategic Planning & Housing Strategy
  4. Regeneration
  5. Land charges
  6. Highways Transport & Regeneration
  7. Highways strategy
  8. Highways Network Management
  9. Highways Traffic & Development
  10. Environmental Health (Residential & Commercial)
  11. Hendon Cemetery & Crematorium
  12. Trading Standards & Licensing
  13. Registration & Nationality
  14. Parking Service
  15. Coach Escorts
  16. Passenger Travel
  17. Customer Services
  18. Adult Social Care
  19. Estates
  20. Facilities
  21. Procurement
  22. Human Resources
  23. Information Services
  24. Revenues & Benefits
  25. * Legal Services

* to be retained in-house