Category: Austerity
Barnet UNISON seek job security for #Capita staff working for Barnet Council
Press Release: Barnet UNISON seek job security for #Capita staff working for Barnet Council
31 January 2018.
This morning Capita staff woke up to some scary headlines that the former FTSE 100 company was in serious trouble.
The next Carillion? Shares in outsourcing firm Capita plunged 40% after profit warning.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/capita-profit-warning-share-price-fall-2018-1
Outsourcing giant Capita announced the suspension of its dividend as part of a transformation plan this morning – and shares duly plunged by more than 40 per cent.
http://www.cityam.com/279777/capita-shares-have-tumbled-more-than-third-city-reacting
This news follows on from the recent collapse of Carillion only a couple of weeks ago. Already political commentators are making comparisons with Carillion and Capita.
In light of the much publicised stress and anxiety experienced by Carillion workers in the wake of the company’s downfall; Barnet UNISON has written to the Chief Executive seeking details of Barnet Council’s contingency plan in the event Capita may have to give up their contracts.
We know that whatever happens there is going to be a great deal of speculation and uncertainty for the staff and whilst UNISON has seen the email from Jon Lewis, Capita’s, new Chief Executive trying to stem anxieties of his 70,000 workforce, we know workers will be worried about their jobs.
Barnet UNISON is looking for a statement from the Council in the event that Capita are unable to continue to run the two Barnet contracts, that Council will initiate plans to transfer the staff back in-house.
Who can we trust?
Since the collapse of Carillion, more news has emerged as to how bad things really were for that company. Furthermore questions are being asked about the role of the external auditors KPMG more here https://www.insider.co.uk/news/watchdog-probe-kpmg-over-carillion-11931818
It has happened before in Barnet……
In 2010 Barnet Homes had commissioned Connaught’s to provide Council Housing Repairs service. Connaught’s went into liquidation. Our members were told they had lost their jobs over a message on a speaker phone. Months earlier Barnet UNISON had held talks with Barnet Homes Chief Executive as it was becoming increasing clear Connaught’s were in serious trouble. There was further problems when it became clear that there was missing pension contributions which needed to be picked up by Barnet Council.
Read more here https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2010/08/19/barnet-unison-members-working-for-connaught-face-uncertain-future/
Footnote: On 26 June 2017 Capita share price was 705.50 now six months later the share price closed today at 202.09 which represents a 72% drop in their share price over a six month period.
On Wednesday 31 January, 2018 the Capita share price opened up at 347 and closed at 182.50 which represents a 47.53% fall in share price.
“Once again the market shows that it is merciless when a company is in trouble. Carillion looks as if it is just the tip of the iceberg. The minute Carillion collapsed I immediately started to look more closely at Capita Share price. I noted that Capita share price had already dropped by around 66% in the last two years. Today seems to have shocked many experts. My concern is for the staff and the local services they provide for Barnet residents. I know from speaking to staff that they are worried and quite understandably cynical about any messages trying to play down what is happening to the company. After the debacle that our former Connaught members went through previously I want to ensure this time that Barnet UNISON does it utmost to try to allay members concerns about their future employment. My view is that this event is a watershed moment for Barnet Council. Please abandon your “love affair” with outsourcing and commence negotiations to return all services back to the Council.” John Burgess, Branch Secretary Barnet UNISON
Links.
1. “NHS England has said it is ‘holding Capita’s feet to the fire’ over poor performance, and GP leaders have called for the service to be taken back under NHS control.”
https://www.gponline.com/bma-demands-assurances-gps-capita-share-price-drops-40/article/1455914
2. “No sensible public authority, whether council, NHS trust, or Whitehall department, would let a contract to a company over which hang as many question marks as hang over Capita.
Procurement chiefs and permanent secretaries should now be poring over their contracts with Capita and making contingency plans. Capita runs payroll in many councils and staff have to be paid, so immediate alternative arrangements should be in place. That costs money, which needs to be factored into the cost of this and future contracts.”
3. Wave Tata, Capita: You’ve lost mega-contract to rival outsourcer
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/16/capita_loses_biggest_contract_to_rival_outsourcing_biz/
4. Ministry of Defence ‘wasted millions on failed computer system’
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/14/ministry-of-defence-failed-computer-system
5. Thousands of court cases adjourned due to failures in interpreting services
Barnet: School budget cuts fight back
Last year there was a great deal of publicity courtesy of the NEU publishing the School budget cuts website https://schoolcuts.org.uk/#!/
Here are some KEY FACTS
- £2.8bn has been cut from school budgets since 2015
- £54.0k average cut to primary schools
- £205.6k average cut to secondary schools
Unless there is a change of government and an end to austerity, then the cuts in schools are going to mean staff are going to face redundancy.
Barnet UNISON wants to organise and support our members facing cuts and redundancies.
For example we are currently supporting our members working in Hendon School where a cuts restructure consultation has begun.
Whilst we are involved in the consultation process we are also running an informal strike ballot of our members at the same time.
As Bob Crow once said:
“If you fight, you won’t always win. If you don’t fight, you will always lose.”
Our branch will always offer full support to our members in schools if they want to fight back. We will commit our resources to organise a robust defence of our member’s jobs and services.
If your school is facing cuts to staffing please make sure you contact the branch on 0208 359 2088 or email contactus@barnetunison.org.uk ASAP in order we can arrange a visit at your school.
“Tired of the brutality of Austerity?” – join John McDonnell Barnet UNISON AGM
John McDonnell speaking at Barnet UNISON AGM 8 February
Join @barnet_unison “Save it, Sort it, Recycle everyday”
Barnet Parking Service in-house option rejected in consultant’s report.
“It is a well-accepted industry fact that without careful management, the CEO workforce in any Borough, whether in-house or outsourced, will not always be as productive as desired with a corresponding impact on the issuing of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs).” Oaklawn Consulting Limited report to Barnet Council, Environment Committee, 11 January, 2018). http://bit.ly/2mi1Z3R
This is the outrageous statement made by the latest in a long line of outsourcing consultancy companies that have earned literally millions of Barnet tax-payers’ money over the last decade as a result of the Council’s ideological obsession with outsourcing services.
Barnet UNISON campaigned vociferously to oppose the outsourcing of the Parking Service. We argued that a well-run in-house service was more than able to deliver a quality service and it had done previously until the agenda changed and outsourcing became the only game in town. Good operational managers were not appreciated and the Council became reliant on interim consultants who presided over the demise of in- house services.
The Parking Service, once a well-run service, suffered as a result of a series of poor managers and became a soft target for the outsourcing ideologues in Barnet.
However, the Parking Service in its final year, still believed that it could turn itself around and I was informed back then that they managed almost 165k PCNs (Penalty Charge Notices) which is quite incredible considering the last three months of that period morale was at rock bottom after they learnt the hard work was for nothing.
This completely demolishes the comment made by the consultant and it is an insult to local authority managers who demonstrated they knew how to run Parking Services.
Barnet UNISON has had to trawl through hundreds of pro-outsourcing reports over the last decade all trotting out the same mantra. We had hoped that the obsession with outsourcing was wavering but this report demonstrates that is not the case.
NSL took over the Parking Service in May 2012, yet there has been no evidence provided that they have been able to secure the same level of PCNs in the last five years.
Waste of money
In light of the cuts to funding it seems incomprehensible that the Council should commission a report on the merits of an in-house bid when senior officers have already begun the procurement process.
What was the purpose of the consultant’s report?
If the report was commissioned for genuine reasons then surely that means the procurement could have been undermined if it recommended a return of the Parking service in-house?
If that is the case then why begin procurement?
Why waste money on procurement?
If you want to know what is going to be discussed you can view the reports on Parking Service here
#BringParkingBackInHouse
Staring into the face of Armageddon
On 16 December 2014 Barnet Council voted for the second wave of mass outsourcing which if implemented would result on the Council workforce reduce to less than 300 staff.
At the same time Northampton County Council announced that they would do the same.
Our branch had by this time been fighting Barnet Councils mass outsourcing ideology for over six years.
Our branch was exhausted, our reps who fought in the first wave of outsourcing simply had enough.
Our branch took a decision that we would try to rally our members build more reps and give it a go.
What was there to lose?
2015 was a critical moment in our history.
The Council came for the trade union facility time, they wanted to reduce it to zero.
Then the outsourcing projects began to gather pace.
We made a simple decision to organise and fightback.
Barnet Unison Picket lines in July 2015.
Two things happened that happened that shaped our future.
Jeremy Corbyn turned up at our picket line outside NLBP, after this Jeremy never looked back and later became the Leader of the Labour Party.
Lastly, Mill Hill depot workers joined UNISON en masse.
It was a proud moment watching workers refuse to cross our picket line and sign up to join UNISON.
The rest as they say is history, more strikes, protests followed.
In May 2017, Street Scene the last service at risk of outsourcing was kept in-house.
Back in December 2014 we were facing an impossible fight, but after much hard work our members and services are still in-house.
As Bob Crow used to say
“If you fight you won’t always win. But if you don’t fight you will always lose.”
2018 promises to be another test for our members and our union, whatever happens I know we have the team, the members to take on whatever is coming our way.
Solidarity greeting to all of our Barnet UNISON members and a Happy New Year.
UPDATE: Barnet Council Gritting Service
First things first, the Gritting service is provided directly by Barnet Council.
It has not been outsourced.
However there have been changes to the Gritting service since Re (Capita) were given a contract that included the Highways Services.
If you go to Barnet Council Winter maintenance web page you will see the contact details for Re, view here https://www.barnet.gov.uk/citizen-home/parking-roads-and-pavements/Roads-and-Pavements/Winter-Maintenance.html
The implications of trying to run services with multiple partners, each of whom will have their own agendas, was probably not discussed thoroughly by those councillors who rubber stamped the outsourcing of key environmental services to Capita.
I know it wasn’t discussed because I attended every single council committee meeting for years, desperate to see some semblance of scrutiny. What I witnessed, was no scrutiny of claims in favour of outsourcing made by senior council officers, long since gone from the Council.
No accountability.
Back to the Gritting service.
The Gritting service prior to privatisation made their own decision as to when they went out to grit roads, now they have to be instructed by Re (Capita).
It is really important to note that fact.
What happened on Sunday 10 December 2017?
I am writing this post in defence of our members who carry out this service.
There has been a great deal of anger from Barnet residents about the lack of gritting that led to the chaos on the streets of Barnet.
I just want to make it clear if my members in the Gritting service had been asked to go out, they would have gone out.
The question that must be asked is why were they were not asked.
I have asked and I am still waiting…….
Harrow depot
Many residents are blissfully unaware that Barnet Council sold Mill Hill depot (in the exact centre of the borough) without securing a suitable location for a new depot. This has resulted in services being scatted over a number fo sites. In the case of the Gritting service, it was moved to Harrow. This means they have to drive from Harrow and drive into Barnet to begin the routes, then drive back to Harrow to pick up more grit.
The workforce can’t believe councillors could make such a decision and neither can Barnet UNISON.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Barnet UNISON issues warning to members about the Pension Service provided by Capita.
Barnet UNISON Press Release: Friday 1 December 2017
“The final straw for me was when I was sent copies of letters issued on London Borough of Hounslow letterheads with London Borough of Hounslow email contact details to our members by Capita Pension Service in response to their own Barnet Pensions queries. Barnet UNISON has been monitoring an ongoing catalogue of serious errors made by the Capita Pensions Service operating out of Darlington. Not only am I unhappy with Capita, but also with the Council, which agreed this outsourcing model. This fragmented model, where you have two pay roll departments running out of Belfast and Carlisle and Pensions running out of Darlington was agreed by senior Barnet Council Officers in 2012. They have long gone and left us with a service in which we have no confidence. Our Pension, is our members’ single biggest financial saving for their future. It is also their deferred earnings. The Pension service our members’ are having to endure is unacceptable. My concern is that there is an “Emperor’s New Clothes” culture in our Council. No criticism is tolerated, well Barnet UNISON will not stay silent the service needs to be brought back in-house.” John Burgess Barnet UNISON Branch Secretary
We advise all Barnet UNISON members who are in the
Local Government Pensions Scheme
to read this Press release and take up our offer below.
1. Please find a brief explanation of the serious issues we have found over the past two years
- 2015 Annual Benefit Statements not sent to all by statutory deadline
- 2016 Annual Benefit Statements not sent to all by statutory deadline
- 2015 Annual Benefit Statements not all correct – CARE benefit incorrectly based on taxable pay rather than pensionable pay
- 2016 Annual Benefit Statements not all correct – CARE benefit incorrectly based on taxable pay rather than pensionable pay
- 2017 Annual Benefit Statements not all accurate – missing previous LGPS membership, more than one statement, CARE benefit based on part pensionable pay
- Barnet Pension communicated on another local authority’s letterhead showing two different e-mail addresses for communication with them
- Insufficient details provided for pension calculations to check accuracy
2. What HAS Barnet UNISON done so far?
- Raised issues at meetings with Chief Executive in December 2016, January 2017 and September 2017
- Asked LBB to inform breaches to the Pensions Regulator
- Issues raised at Local Pension Board meetings
- Issues raised at regular monthly meetings with Council officers and Capita Pensions staff.
3. What YOU can do
- Contact Branch on contactus@barnetunison.org.uk or ring on 0208 359 2088 if you want a seminar on Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) at your workplace
- Contact Branch on contactus@barnetunison.org.uk or ring on 0208 359 2088 for a 1-1 meeting for information on LGPS
End.
Notes to Editors.
Contact details: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on or 020 8359 2088 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk
Background:
Below are a few links of the post transfer consultations with Capita which resulted in wholesale cuts to the local workforce.
1. The Pensions Regulator fines Barnet Council for failing to submit pension documentation
2. Capita consultation on proposed sacking of Barnet Council Pension workforce as jobs move to Darlington (2013).
3. Barnet UNISON Press Release: “From hard working families to ‘scroungers’ – Capita redundancies
4. THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES
“But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said.
“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on. A child says he hasn’t anything on.”
“But he hasn’t got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last.
http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html