Customer Transformation for Revenues & Benefits’

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UNISON is concerned that such a significant change to Revs & Bens was presented to staff on the eve of the Easter break, thus limiting the opportunities for staff to digest and consider the implications of proposal.

 

UNISON intends on submitting a formal response but wants to take an opportunity to provide some early comments to members and seek feedback from our members.

 

The proposal entitled ‘Customer Transformation for Revenues & Benefits’ presents a significant and high risk proposal for the future viability of such a high performing service.

The following legal judgements made with regards consultation  

 

“To be proper, consultation must be undertaken at a time when proposals are still at a formative stage. It must include sufficient reasons for particular proposals to allow those consulted to give intelligent consideration and an intelligent response; adequate time must be given for this purpose; and the product of consultation must be conscientiously taken into account when the ultimate decision is taken” Lord Woolf MR when giving the judgment of the Court of Appeal in R (on the application of Coughlan) v North and East Devon Health Authority [2001] QB 213, [2000] 3 All ER 850, 258 [108]

 

 “Since the person affected cannot make worthwhile representations without knowing what factors may weigh against his interests fairness will very often require that he is informed of the gist of the case which he has to answer.” Lord Mustill also explained in R (on the application of Doody) v Secretary of State [1994] 1 AC 531, [1993] 3 All ER 92, 550

 

UNISONs initial comment is that there is worrying lack of detailed information around the proposal indeed there have been reports that there are some missing slides from one of the presentations given to staff last week.

 

UNISON will be making an urgent request for full disclosure of all background papers/reports which support and evidence the rationale about the radical proposals identified in the proposal. In the absence of this material being provided it is UNISON view that the consultation processed is flawed Interim comments

 

It was unfortunate that the slides presented to staff last week were incomplete, UNISON has been given an undertaking that the full presentation will be made available on the intranet for all staff to read. UNISON has been given a hard copy of the presentation which we have converted into a PDF document and sent off to all our members.

 

UNISON has the following comments on the limited information being made available.

1. Transformation proposals

This is a significant transformation which from the limited information being provided could have an impact on the current safe and robust controls in place. Have these proposals been referred to internal audit and CAFT to ensure any changes in risk around appropriate controls are in place?

2. Workload – increased?

Reduction in team leaders will lead to an increase in workload of current officers and potential change in the complexity of the work

3. The selection of staff into the Call Centre

  • Are there any staff who want to volunteer to go into call centre?
  • Will flexi time and flexible working be impacted by working in a call centre?

It was stated in one of the presentations that the contingencies of the service (peaks and troughs) will dictate the inclusion of flexi time and flexible working within the Call Centre.

There have been comments made that there is also the possibility of a late night call centre?

Appointment system for benefit face to face will be assessed for the possibility of late night work due to working benefit claimants. It was said that no one in Barnet who works is on benefit according to their records.

4. Not sustainable structure

There has been a 66% management team reduction in the last 12 months from 9 to 3 posts.

Posts deleted

  • Head of Benefits March 2011
  • Head of Revs and bens 13 Feb 2012

In the current proposals the following posts are to be deleted

Posts to be deleted

  • Local Taxation manager
  • 2 Benefit Managers
  • I collection or recovery manager

There is a lack in detail in the presentation; it is our view that this structure is not sustainable in the long term. The cuts are so savage at a time of increased activity in the Revenues and Benefits arena nationally, case loads are increasing and there is localisation of taxes and an ongoing recession.

As a result of unsustainable structure above there is a risk the contractor may be unable to deliver the projected savings identified in the business cases.

Team Leader posts

Posts being slashed 21.5 to 14

Out of 8 in Taxation there will be 3 remaining.

 

Risks:

Performance dip

No Capacity for annual/sick leaves 

The simplistic analysis of spans of control, do not reflect an understanding of the complexity of the work that is being carried or the expertise required by the roles being performed.

5. Savings

The consultation proposal does not include any direct reference to the savings required for this service

UNISON is requesting that it should be noted and further established in the risk logs that a 1% dip in collection re Councils Tax Business Rates would result in a £3.3 million loss

6. Hand Offs Customer Care standards dropping

UNISON notes that the news customer care standards in customer’s services are 80% one touch. Revenues & Benefits are already achieving close to 100% in the existing the structure

The division of work for level 2 and below will be dealt by customer services. Without out any supporting evidence for this proposal UNISON believes this will mean that there will be hand offs to the back office during the process for calls that become more complex during the call. This will reduce the percentage of calls resolved at the first point of contact from what is currently being achieved

 

Revenues and Benefits Restructure Meeting

 

Monday 16th April 12.30- 1pm & 1pm-1.30pm

 

Central Room (Ground Floor) Building 4

Have your say,

Make your point,

Your chance to say how good it is for you

Your chance to ask what it means for you

Your chance to give the union feedback so we can do the best for you.

You can just turn up to the meeting or we are inviting you to fill in the slip below and hand or post it into the union office before the meeting and we will do our best to respond to your query in the meeting – don’t be shy! We will decide how best to give feedback on the questions to all members at the meeting.

This is about your future so if it’s important to you it’s important to us.

Next meeting: Monday April 23rd 12.30pm-1pm &1pm-1.30pm, Central Room

Best wishes

John Burgess

Branch Secretary.

Barnet UNISON