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Social Services meeting

Location: Willows, Building 4 NLBP

Time: 3.30pm

To view update click here

Last week our members had a meet your new employer session, where a number of key questions were repeatedly raised by staff

·         Why does the back office have to move to Croydon when the Council have free office space in NLBP until 2015

·         Does NSL operate a ticket target quota for parking wardens

·         Will I get redundancy of I cannot travel to Croydon

·         Do you offer Argos bonus points if staff meet ticket quota targets?

When UNISON first heard that NSL were the successful bidder, our regional Head of Local Government wrote (December 20111) to the NSL Chief Executive asking a number of key questions. However because of some delays about formally declaring NSL the successful bidder we have had no response to our questions. Now that NSL have been officially announced as the new Parking provider we are seeking urgent talks.

Our members are asking that UNISON seek to negotiate

·         The Back office continues to run from the current location on NLBP until the * break clause is activated in September 2015

·         The Back office is run from the offices NSL are looking to purchase in Barnet.

·         The extra costs of travel to Croydon for Council staff are paid by NSL

·         That in the event staff are unable to travel to Croydon, staff are offered the following:

Redeployment to a NSL workplace nearer Barnet (keeping their Council terns & conditions) or Redundancy.

Keep a look out for further updates on Parking

* The one Barnet programme has made it clear to all bidders for the One Barnet projects that the NLBP offices are available for the successful contractor to use until the Council can invoke the #break clause stipulated in the Lease.

Dear |John

As you prepare to take action today, I want you to know that your fight is our fight. As you fight against privatisation, job cuts and a vicious attack on terms and conditions, we are standing with you.

Across the country the ConDems are attacking our public services and the UNISON members who work so hard to provide them. They are cutting services, cutting jobs and imposing pay cuts.

The services they cut are vital to the communities that UNISON members are wholeheartedly committed to – in Barnet you’re showing your commitment by donating your day’s work to the Larches Community, as you did during the last strike action in October.

It’s this dedication to public services that makes our members and the work they do so important.

As you take action I want you to remember the rest of UNISON, with our 1.4million members, is behind you.

Best wishes,

Dave

One Barnet Strikers left the picket line to donate their labour to the Larches a Charity providing services for adults with Learning Difficulties to view the thanks you letter click here

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NEWS FROM UNISON LONDON REGION

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FRIDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2012

UNISON CALLS ON ERIC PICKLES TO INVESTIGATE BARNET COUNCIL

UNISON, the UK’s largest union, is calling on the Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, to launch an immediate inquiry into the use of consultants at Barnet Council after public sector tax avoidance hit the headlines in the case of Ed Lester the Head of the Student Loans Company.

The union believes that the proper employment and procurement practices have not been followed exposing the Council to significant reputational and financial risks.

Eric Pickles has already had to step in and reprimand the council, after local residents and Barnet bloggers exposed the METPRO Audit scandal when METPRO a private security firm were awarded a contract at a cost of over a million pounds – without a tendering exercise, written contact or any proper invoicing – to ‘keep an eye’ on local bloggers.

Laura Butterfield, Regional Organiser at UNISON, said:

“We are really concerned that proper procedures have not been followed at Barnet Council.  Over the last two years Barnet Council has employed a long list of consultants including the Deputy Chief Executive and Assistant Director of HR.  Only an immediate inquiry can clarify the correct processes were followed. Given Danny Alexander’s intervention in the Ed Lester case last week how can we ensure that future cases are avoided unless all public sector employees are employed through the correct processes?”

UNISON’s key concerns

·  The Council has failed to comply with its Contract Procurement Regulations (CPR) and Financial Regulations by employing consultants without any procurement/selection process being followed.– which exposes it to significant reputational and financial risks .

· The Council does not have accurate and complete centrally held contracts register and effective monitoring arrangements so are unable to confirm if this is an isolated incident.

·  The Council does not have a complete, centrally held register of contractors showing who is employed, on what basis and at what cost.

 

We recommend that all spend over the stated threshold in the CPR be reviewed and matched to a central contracts register (in development) in a timely basis.  This register needs to be drawn up in full and maintained.

Back in February 2011 the local UNISON branch submitted a report to all 63 Barnet Councillors on 10 February where they made the following recommendation

Recommendation
The Council undertakes as a matter of urgency a review of all payments to staff not employed directly by the Council.

Furthermore we recommend that the Council refer to the HMRC Guidelines in particular the advice to be found here that explains that “It’s your responsibility to correctly determine the employment status of your workers – that is, whether they’re employed by you or self-employed. This depends on the terms and conditions of your working relationship with each worker.

It’s important to get your workers’ employment status right because it affects the way tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) are calculated for them. And it determines whether or not you have to operate PAYE (Pay As You Earn) on their earnings.”

Read full details here
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/employees/start-leave/status.htm <http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/employees/start-leave/status.htm>

For comment or more information please contact Laura Butterfield – 07718 520 850 / l.butterfield@unison.co.uk

 

End
Information links

1.   Student Loans chief ‘to pay tax at source’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16854187

2.   Pickles attacks Barnet Council
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2011/07/pickles-attacks-barnet-council.html <http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2011/07/pickles-attacks-barnet-council.html>

Click here to view report