FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — JULY 2026 BARNET COUNCIL WORKERS UNDERPAID FOR TWELVE YEARS — AND OFFERED A FRACTION OF WHAT THEY ARE OWED
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — JULY 2026
BARNET COUNCIL WORKERS UNDERPAID FOR TWELVE YEARS — AND OFFERED A FRACTION OF WHAT THEY ARE OWED
Barnet UNISON publishes the council’s offer and begins member consultation — as depot workers demand a strike ballot
Barnet UNISON is today publishing details of a formal settlement offer from the London Borough of Barnet following twelve years of holiday pay underpayments affecting council workers across waste and recycling, street cleansing, grounds maintenance, libraries, social care and other services.
The offer — six months’ backdated pay at 8.33% of non-contractual overtime — has been condemned by Barnet UNISON as wholly inadequate. The union is now consulting all affected members over the next four – six weeks.
What the offer means in real money
The law — confirmed at Supreme Court level — requires that regular non-contractual overtime is factored into holiday pay calculations. It was not, for twelve years. The table below shows what the council’s offer means for two typical depot roles, compared to what workers are actually owed on the same calculation:
| Role | Owed (12 years) | Council offer (6 months) |
| Loader (Grade B) | approx. £9,600 | approx. £400 |
| Driver (Grade F) | approx. £14,400 | approx. £600 |
(These figures are based on real overtime earnings for two depot roles and are given as examples only. Individual amounts will vary depending on how much overtime was worked over the twelve years. For some members it will be less — for others it could be considerably more.)
On the council’s own methodology, the full twelve-year liability runs to approximately £6 million. The council is offering £250,000 — shared across all affected Council staff.
That is roughly 4p for every £1 owed.
How it came to light
The council’s HR department did not raise this as an error. HR meets with Barnet UNISON at least once a week. Not once in twelve years did it acknowledge that holiday pay was being calculated incorrectly.
The issue came to light in April 2025 when members working in the depots noticed new payments on their payslips after Liberata took over the payroll contract from Capita and came to UNISON asking what they were. Low-paid workers reading their own payslips is what finally brought twelve years of underpayments to the surface.
Capita — the contractor at the centre of this failure
Capita ran the council’s payroll from October 2013 to 31 March 2025 — throughout the entire period the underpayment occurred and went uncorrected. The moment Liberata replaced Capita, the correct calculation began.
| The Capita record at Barnet — by the numbers
• Total paid to Capita since 2013: approximately £670 million — around £246 million more than the original contract value of £424 million (source: published council supplier payment data, analysed by independent researcher John Dix / Mr Reasonable) • Final year with most services returned in-house: Barnet still paid Capita £24 million — £2 million per month — for just three remaining services • A Capita employee stole £2,063,972 through fictitious compulsory purchase order payments. He was jailed for five years • Grant Thornton review (Project Rose) found: no budgetary controls, no basic bank detail checks, inexperienced managers handling large sums, no written financial procedures. The review cost up to £500,000 of public money • Around 170 council workers had pension contributions deducted from their wages by Capita but were never enrolled into the pension scheme • Barnet became the first public service pension scheme in the country to be fined by the Pensions Regulator — on Capita’s watch • Capita required to repay the council £4.12 million for delivery failures under the contract |
The One Barnet programme was awarded by the previous Conservative administration in 2013 and described at the time as a model for efficient public services. The Guardian later described it as a “disastrous ideological outsourcing spending spree” that handed an array of local services to Capita. The promised savings never materialised. The bills kept growing.
The previous Conservative administration initially refused to publish the Grant Thornton report into the fraud, claiming it was not in the public interest. It was eventually published quietly on the council website with no announcement.
The offer — and the questions it raises
The council has cited severe financial pressure and described the payment as a “gesture of goodwill.” Barnet UNISON does not accept that framing. This is not a gesture of goodwill. It is money workers earned and were legally entitled to. The council’s own financial difficulties do not diminish what is owed.
They do, however, raise a direct question: has the council formally approached Capita about its financial responsibility for a payroll failure that persisted for twelve years under its management? If the council is under financial pressure, the answer is to pursue the contractor that failed — not to offer workers as little as possible.
The council also noted in its formal offer that it is “out of time” to make a backdated payment — yet simultaneously offered a backdated payment. Barnet UNISON has taken note of that contradiction.
What happens next
Barnet UNISON is today launching a four-week consultation of all affected members. If you have worked regular overtime at any point in the last twelve years, this may affect you. Members are encouraged to read the full details and contact the branch with any questions.
Barnet UNISON can confirm that one group of workers — depot staff in waste, recycling, street cleansing and grounds maintenance — have already made clear they regard this offer as wholly unacceptable and have demanded that UNISON ballot them for industrial action if the offer is not substantially improved.
If the consultation produces a strong vote to reject, Barnet UNISON will seek an urgent meeting with the Chief Executive to press for a substantially improved offer. If the employer refuses to negotiate further, Barnet UNISON will contact UNISON HQ with a view to proceeding to a formal, lawful strike ballot.
John Burgess, Branch Secretary, Barnet UNISON
| This is what outsourcing looks like when it goes wrong and nobody is held to account. Capita ran Barnet’s payroll for twelve years. In that time, they failed to calculate holiday pay correctly, failed to enrol workers into their pensions properly, presided over a £2 million fraud, and walked away with the best part of £670 million of public money — around £246 million more than the contract was worth. The council either could not or would not hold them to account. And now, when the workers who were underpaid throughout all of that ask for what they are owed, the employer says there is no money. |
| There is always money when it comes to paying private contractors. There was apparently no money when it came to paying the people who empty the bins, clean the streets and keep this borough running. |
| This is a grave injustice. It is a clear example of how outsourcing damages workers and how weak this council was at holding Capita to account. We are consulting our members. Depot workers have already told us they want a ballot. We will be listening to what all of our members say — and we will act on it. |
Get in touch
If you are an affected member and have questions about this offer, contact Barnet UNISON at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk or visit barnetunison.me.uk
Notes to Editors
Barnet UNISON represents approximately 3,000 workers employed by the London Borough of Barnet, The Barnet Group, Barnet Education and Learning Skills, and a range of contractors and associated employers. Members include street cleansing and waste workers, care workers, school support staff, social workers, council office staff and caretakers.
The legal obligation to include regular non-contractual overtime in holiday pay calculations arises from the Working Time Regulations 1998 and has been confirmed through a series of appellate decisions culminating in the Supreme Court judgment in Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland v Agnew [2023].
The £670 million total Capita payment figure is sourced from John Dix’s independent annual analysis of Barnet Council’s published supplier payment data, available at reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.com. The original combined contract value over ten years was approximately £424 million (source: Grant Thornton Project Rose review, published September 2018). The figure of £670 million should be attributed to published supplier payment data rather than cited as an official council figure.
The Grant Thornton Project Rose review is publicly available on the Barnet Council website. Trishul Shah was convicted of fraud and jailed for five years.
The holiday pay calculation was corrected from 1 April 2025, coinciding with Liberata taking over the payroll function from Capita.
Example figures (Loader approx. £400 offer / approx. £9,600 owed; Driver approx. £600 offer / approx. £14,400 owed) are illustrative, based on real overtime earnings data for those roles. Individual amounts will vary.
Media enquiries: contactus@barnetunison.org.uk