Consultants are back – Barnet Council award contract to Peopletoo
Barnet Council issued an email to all Barnet Staff about the announcement that they have contracted a consultancy agency Peopletoo
Our members have long memories of what consultants can do to our public services.
We will never forget what happened to our members in Libraries where almost 55% of the workforce were sacked.
We won’t forget the hundreds of redundancies by Capita with the financial support of Barnet Council when they took over our back-office services in 2013.
Back in the late 2000s staff were told that the consultancy company were called in as a critical friend to help support the Council in the future.
16 years later the damage caused by the promotion of some of those ideas is here with us now.
For those who want to know more about the decision to pay Peopletoo can read the report here
Source: Improvement Partner Contract Award, 9 April 2025
Here are some key facts
The contract is due to commence on May 1, 2025.
The contract is structured in two phases:
- Stage 1: Diagnostic Phase: This phase has a fixed term price of £652,700. The purpose of this stage is for Peopletoo to conduct a thorough analysis of the council’s operations and finances to identify potential savings and improvements.
- Stage 2: Delivery Phase: The contract includes an option for Barnet Council to proceed with a Stage 2 delivery phase. The final budget for this phase is contingent on the findings and recommendations of the Stage 1 diagnostic phase.
- Funding Approval: Barnet Council’s Cabinet approved one-off funding of up to £3 million for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the improvement partner contract on February 18, 2025. This funding is allocated from the council’s contingency budget for the 2025/26 financial year.
Barnet UNISON hopes that lessons on the use of consultants have been learnt.
Barnet UNISON will be asking for details about Stage 1 shortly.
Keep an eye out in future eNews.
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