CLIVE LEWIS MP BACKS BARNET’S CLEANERS IN FIGHT AGAINST NORFOLK-OWNED CONTRACTOR
Norwich South MP writes to Norfolk County Council demanding action over Norse Group’s 12-day pay lag
Barnet UNISON has welcomed the intervention of Clive Lewis MP, Member of Parliament for Norwich South, who has written to Norfolk County Council demanding it use its ownership powers to force Norse Group to pay its lowest-paid workers on time.
Read letter to Leader of Norfolk Council RE Norse Group Clive Lewis MP
https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/26-06-04-Letter-to-Leader-of-Norfolk-Council-RE-Norse-Group-Clive-Lewis-MP.pdf
Norse Group — the largest Local Authority Trading Company in the country, wholly owned by Norfolk County Council — operates the cleaning contract for the London Borough of Barnet. The company imposes a pay arrangement that forces cleaners to wait 12 days after completing every four-week working period before receiving their wages. Norse’s own pay schedule confirms the 12-day gap applies to every single pay period throughout the year without exception.
These are London Living Wage workers in one of the most expensive cities in the world. At any given moment, Norse holds approximately six weeks’ worth of earned wages belonging to its lowest-paid staff.
Clive Lewis MP wrote to the Leader of Norfolk County Council stating:
“The lowest-paid workers on the contract are subsidising Norse’s payroll operation with 12 days of their earned wages per period. That is not an ethical business model, and it is not consistent with the values that a publicly owned company ought to embody.”
His letter directly challenges Norse’s claim that the arrangement is required for HMRC compliance, calling it a commercial and administrative choice rather than a legal requirement, and rejects the company’s suggestion that workers should take credit union loans to bridge the gap as “an indictment of the arrangement.”
Helen Davies, Branch Chair of Barnet UNISON & UNISON SGE rep for London Region, said:
“We are grateful to Clive Lewis for acting quickly and decisively. He has gone straight to the heart of the matter — Norse is owned by Norfolk County Council, and the Council cannot wash its hands of responsibility for how this company treats its workers. Norfolk created Norse, Norfolk owns Norse, and Norfolk receives an annual dividend from Norse. The workers making that dividend possible deserve to be paid on time.
“We now call on Norfolk County Council to respond without delay and direct Norse to change this arrangement — not just for our members in Barnet, but for all 1,725 Norse employees across the country subject to the same pay lag.”
Barnet UNISON has also written to all 31 Barnet Labour Councillors, the four Barnet Labour MPs, and Green Councillor Charli Thompson calling for urgent intervention and a commitment to bring the cleaning contract back in-house when it expires in 2027.
The Barnet UNISON petition calling on Norse to pay workers on time and for the cleaning service to be insourced in 2027 remains open.
✅ Sign the petition: https://www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/pay-barnet-s-cleaners-on-time-and-bring-cleaning-back-in-house?source=rawlink&utm_source=rawlink&share=67ca7052-c387-43a8-bd8f-201c05771705
ENDS
For media enquiries contact: Barnet UNISON contactus@barnetunison.org.uk