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Barnet UNISON Evaluation of the Bidders ( EC Harris and Capita Symonds) for DRS
Dear Councillors
You may be aware that recently staff working across Regulatory Services had the opportunity to meet the two contractors bidding to win the DRS contract to deliver services such as Planning, Environmental Services to name but a few and of course to take over running of Hendon Crematorium & Cemetery.
UNISON welcomed the opportunity for staff to meet the bidders and I would like to commend the senior officers for enabling this to take place.
UNISON felt it was important to capture the feedback from our members as to what they had learnt from the presentation.
UNISON carried out a simple survey of our members attending both presentations and we now have the results which I promised my members I would share with all 63 councillors.
Below are four key issues emerging from the presentation
1. Only 27% of members expressed confidence that EC Harris can effectively deliver their service, as compared with only 3% for Capita
2. Only 19% of members were confident EC Harris would not make staff redundant after TUPE transfer as compared with only 12% for Capita Symonds
3. Only 24% of members believed EC Harris would protect flexi time, flexible working, membership of the pension scheme and terms & conditions as compared with 9% for Capita Symonds
4. The majority of our members want to meet the Bidders before the preferred Bidder is selected
I hope that you will all have time to read and consider our presentation (click here ) and support our request that further meeting with both Bidders be arranged for staff before the preferred bidder is selected.
Best wishes
John Burgess
Branch Secretary.
Barnet UNISON
Update on One Barnet redundancies in NSL & RR Donnelley
Last week I attended a number of 1:1 meetings with former council workers who have been transferred to NSL and the subcontractor RR Donnelley. The ‘one barnet redundancy’ clock is ticking, it is apparent there are little or no realistic opportunities for redeployment for them. NSL have provided our members with details of jobs with NSL in towns and cities all across the UK none of which are appropriate or realsistic options. I know that staff are being told in briefings that ‘outsourcing’ need not be a negative experience, in fact there could be real opportunities for career development! I don’t know who writes this script but I have yet to find a member who believes that ‘outsourcing’ is an opportunity for career development! I think my members facing redundancy at the end of this month would have much stronger words to describe how they feel they have been treated.
One Barnet the ‘Graph of Doom!’
Earlier this week an article appeared in the Guardian about Barnet Councils ‘Graph of Doom’ part of the article goes on to say
“Barnet, once dubbed “easyCouncil”, is known for its enthusiastic embrace of service outsourcing. But the Graph of Doom is quite separate. Irrespective of savings planned under the One Barnet transformation strategy, the slide demonstrates that demographic change – more children, more older people – is going to soak up every penny the authority has.”
Later it adds
“The graph should not be taken too literally: by making no provision for Barnet's anticipated rise in income through regeneration schemes, for instance, it overstates the bleakness of the outlook.”
Council workers may remember this Barnet Council youtube video published just before consultation on the Council Budget began. The video did paint a stark picture that the Council will ‘run out of money’ the video portrayed this scenario as inevitable and it is being used to justify the need to outsource council services. So there we have it, councillors and residents and staff are being bombarded with “we are all doomed message”
However a local Blogger Mr Reasonable (and he really is very reasonable), quickly spotted the flaws in this presentation, take a look at what he had to say back 1 October 2011 here
ProDemocracy Public Services Rally on Saturday 26 May from 11 – 1 pm outside Osidge Library
This Saturday 26 May from 11 am to 1 pm Barnet UNISON along with other Council Trade Unions are going to be joined by Barnet Alliance for Public Services (BAPS) and a host of other local campaigning groups including the Save Friern Library campaign to leaflet residents in Brunswick ward. Their leaflet warns residents about the One Barnet mass privatisation policy which is currently being rolled out across all council services.
All who value public services are welcome to join us outside Osidge Library, Brunswick Park Road, London, N11 1EY
Southwark Council bring customer services back in house
Last year Southwark Council made the decision to bring back their Revenues & Benefits Service in-house.
On Wednesday 15 May Southwark Cabinet committee agreed to bring their Customers Services back in-house.
To view report click here
Is over a 15% cut in wages….reasonable to staff working in Children Centres?
No this is not about the effect of the pay freeze. Some of our colleagues in Children’s Centres are not only subjected to the pay freeze but being consulted about a real cut in their wages to take effect this year as they are expected to move from standard contracts to Term Time Only Contracts. The Council is proposing to remove the subsidy for child care in Children’s Centres and redistribute this across the Children’s Centres. This is something the Government is keen on but each Council can take a view about whether they actually move in this direction.
Our Council has chosen to go down this path with devastating consequences for some of our members. The redistribution of money bizarrely may not result in extra work for those colleagues taking a financial hit. Currently Newstead, Wingfield and The Hyde Children’s Centres are those being hit but in the next couple of years more colleagues could be asked to work and be paid Term Time Only.
UNISON’s position is that we are opposed to the removal of the subsidy of child care in the Children’s Centres and opposed to the cuts to our members’ terms and conditions.
Barnet Council response to the UNISON report on Revenues and Benefits
UNISON responded the restrucure to Revenues and Benefits by producing a detailed 13 page report including detailed evidence.
You can find our Executive Summary here
You can find our detailed report here
You can find our supporting evidence here
You can read the Council response here
To say it is disappointing woudl be an understatement. It is never easy to encourage staff, residents and the public to engage in consultation because many beleive the decisions have already been agreed. This is a very dangerous position to take and undermines local democracy.
In terms of the Council response I am shocked at the lack of detail to our report and the misrepresentation of our offer which was
If the Council abandon the restructure, they can make a saving of three consultants immediately, which we estimate would produce a total saving of £500k in 12 months. UNISON is prepared to offer the use of an expert consultant free of charge to work with the existing senior management team to produce a sustainable alternative structure for this service before outsourcing.”
We were in fact offering two savings for the Barnet council tax payer not one. The first saving was to terminate the contracts of the consultants. It is difficult to understand the business case for the continued use of consultants in Revenues & Benefits as they have given the task of making the restructure (they proposed) work to the council employed management team.
The second saving to the Barnet council tax payer was to provide the FREE use of a consultant to produce a sustainable alternative structure for this service before outsourcing.
Branch Secretary writes to all Barnet Councillors about Customer Services Transformation for Revenues & Benefits
Dear Councillors
Please find UNISON response to a restructure of Revenues & Benefits service before outsourcing. The council proposals for the service have provoked the biggest staff response in the 17 years I have been involved in staffing issues. I would strongly recommend councillors to read the report. An executive summary provides an overview of the risks and concerns.
I am currently awaiting a written response to our report.
Please note the UNISON offer is
“If the Council abandon the restructure, they can make a saving of three consultants immediately, which we estimate would produce a total saving of £500k in 12 months. UNISON is prepared to offer the use of an expert consultant free of charge to work with the existing senior management team to produce a sustainable alternative structure for this service before outsourcing.”
Best wishes
John Burgess
Branch Secretary.
Barnet UNISON
One Barnet Seven Deadly Risks to Council Tax revenue
M 1% drop in income collection could expose the council to a loss of over £2.2 million in council tax collection just over £1.1 million in business rates.
M a loss of 1% in Council Tax subsidy would equate to £2.6million. Currently Barnet performs in the top six in London at maximising the reclaim from the DWP
M failure council to optimise its income could potentially result in unplanned future increases in council tax as result of non collection.
M Failure to maximise the council tax base due to updates not being done in an accurate or timely fashion, discount and exemption entitlements not being effectively policed
M Any removal of key checks and balances, as suggested by the consultant’s report, will inevitably result in an increase in errors and deterioration in the detection and prevention of fraud.
M Customer care standards will drop as a result of the transfer of most types of contact to the contact call centre. Currently near to 100% of calls are resolved at first point of contact. The contact call centre aims to achieve only 80%.
M Cuts to management structure place undue burden on management’s capacity to deal with future planned legislative changes and therefore there is a risk to operational performance and meet set income targets
Executive summary here
http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/869
Detailed report here http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/2012.05.02.UNISON%20response%20to%20Revenues%20and%20BenefitsFINAL.pdf
Evidence here http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/2012.05.02.UNISONAppendixesRevs&%20Bens.pdf