Why is Barnet Council not helping keep jobs in Barnet?

Why is Barnet Council not helping keep jobs in Barnet?

UNISON has had further discussions with Capita about a proposal which could mean keeping jobs in Barnet; which would mean less staff being made redundant.

BUT and there is a big but.

For this project to get off the ground Barnet Council need to agree to Capita being able to hold on to the redundancy payments already provided by the Council.

“Why do we need Barnet Council to agree to this?”

The simple answer is that it is all in the Capita contract. As part of the Capita bid for the contract; the Council agreed to give Capita the redundancy money for any staff made redundant as a result of Capita winning the contract. I imagine that Barnet Council would have known the number of job losses in order to agree how much they would have to give Capita. We have been told it is approximately £5million which is quite a sum of money and a lot of staff losing their jobs.

However as a result of the delay in the transfer to Capita a large number of staff have already left which means there is going to be a substantial pot of money left over.

“What happens to the money?”

In the Capita contract it states Capita have to give Barnet Council a rebate on any unspent money after 5 years.

“So what is stopping the proposal to keep jobs in Barnet?”

For Capita to agree to the job creation proposal they need Barnet Council to allow Capita to hold onto some of the ‘redundancy money’ in case the new service is unsuccessful and the staff are made redundant. Unless Barnet Council agree it is highly unlikely Capita will proceed with this proposal.

“What have UNISON done?”

We wrote to senior officers of the council on several occasions pointing out the implications for staff and their families and requesting a speedy response preferably before Christmas (staff are due to be issued redundancy letters in the first week of January 2014 hence our urgency). Unfortunately the response was slow but a promise of a response on 20 December was made.

Unfortunately this deadline has been and gone. It does feel like the senior officers have not recognised the urgency and importance of this simple decision.

UNISON will press again for a response.

UNISON wrote the Leader of the Council on two occasions pointing out the promises made by fellow councillors that the utmost would be done to help loyal staff in these difficult times.

Unfortunately UNISON did not receive an acknowledgment or a reply to these requests.

UNISON will send another reminder to the Leader of Barnet Council asking for a response.