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They Were Heroes During Covid. Now They Are Fighting for Fair Pay. We Must Stand With Them.

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Barnet Group, Barnet Homes, Cost of Living Crisis, COVID 19, Housing, Insourcing, Local, News, Pensions, Solidarity, TBG Flex, Trades Dispute, UNISON Campaign, Your Choice Barnet

They Were Heroes During Covid. Now They Are Fighting for Fair Pay. We Must Stand With Them.

 Branch Secretary Blog — John Burgess, Barnet UNISON

On Tuesday 13 October, Barnet UNISON announced that our members working for The Barnet Group had voted overwhelmingly for strike action.

 88% voted YES on a 55% turnout.

That is a powerful result, and I want to explain why this dispute matters to every Barnet UNISON member, not just those working for The Barnet Group.

 Who are The Barnet Group workers?

The Barnet Group (TBG) is a company wholly owned by Barnet Council. It includes Barnet Homes, which provides housing services, and Your Choice Barnet, which provides social care and support services.

These are not optional services. Housing and social care are essential public services which councils have statutory responsibilities to provide or arrange.

Our members include care and support workers looking after vulnerable adults, and housing workers helping residents with their homes, repairs and housing needs.

They are public service workers. They work for organisations owned by Barnet Council. But they are not treated the same as Barnet Council employees.

Many members reading this may be surprised to learn that TBG workers do not automatically receive the same pay, annual leave, sick pay, overtime rates or other terms and conditions as Council staff.

They also do not have the same access to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

How can that be right?

Remember when care workers were called heroes?

I want members to think back to Covid.

When much of the country was told to stay at home, our care workers continued going to work.

They supported vulnerable residents who depended on them. They worried about catching Covid, about passing it on to the people they cared for, and about bringing it home to their own families.

They went to work because people needed them.

Remember the weekly applause? Remember people standing outside their homes banging saucepans to show their appreciation for NHS and care workers?

They were called heroes then. So why are they still fighting for fair pay, decent conditions and pension rights now?

You cannot pay the rent with applause. You cannot pay your energy bills with praise.

And you certainly cannot build a decent retirement on warm words.

One Council. Two Workforces. That Must End.

Barnet UNISON has been campaigning for years against outsourcing and the creation of a two-tier workforce.

Barnet Homes and Your Choice Barnet were once Council services. Moving them outside direct Council employment has left workers doing essential public service jobs without the same contractual protections and benefits as their Council colleagues.

Our members are demanding better pay and conditions, including improved annual leave, sick pay, working hours, overtime rates, a fair pay structure and access to the LGPS.

The Barnet Group has rejected the claim.

Our members have responded by voting for strike action.

Nobody takes a decision to strike lightly, especially workers who care for vulnerable people and support residents.

But when employers refuse to negotiate seriously, what choice are workers left with?

This is why Barnet UNISON is calling on The Barnet Group and Barnet Council to sit down with us and negotiate a fair settlement.

My Message to Every Barnet UNISON Member

I have spent 31 years representing workers in Barnet, including 23 years as Branch Secretary.

I have seen what outsourcing does to workers. I have seen the divisions it creates, the inequalities it produces and the damage it can do to morale.

I have also seen what happens when workers stand together.

Our TBG members have shown courage. They have voted to challenge their employer because they believe they deserve better.

Now I am asking every Barnet UNISON member reading this blog to do something simple.

Take a few minutes to send a message of solidarity to our housing and care workers.

It doesn’t have to be long. Just a few words to let them know they are not alone.

You might work in a school, a library, a depot, an office or another Council service. You might never have met a TBG worker.

That doesn’t matter.

We are all UNISON members, and when one group of workers is fighting for fair treatment, they deserve the support of the rest of us.

Please email your message of support to contactus@barnetunison.org.uk.

I will make sure our TBG members get to read your messages.

I want them to know that thousands of fellow UNISON members across Barnet recognise their fight and stand alongside them.

 They were there for our community during Covid.

 Now it’s our turn to be there for them.

Solidarity.

John Burgess
Branch Secretary
Barnet UNISON

ONE COUNCIL. ONE WORKFORCE. EQUAL TERMS.

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Barnet Homes, Cost of Living Crisis, Insourcing, Local, London Living Wage, News, Repairs, Solidarity, TBG Flex, Trades Dispute, UNISON Campaign, Your Choice Barnet

ONE COUNCIL. ONE WORKFORCE. EQUAL TERMS.

First day of strike action: Tuesday 27 October

15 October 2026

The first day of strike action for all UNISON members at The Barnet Group will be Tuesday 27 October. It will be a 24 hour strike.

Thank you to everyone who voted. A 55% turnout and 88% voting yes gives us a clear mandate.

Message from UNISON General Secretary Andrea Egan to The Barnet Group workers

Dear colleagues,

Congratulations on a strong clear result. A 55% turnout and 88% voting yes is a strong, clear message, and everyone in UNISON is proud of you.

You care for vulnerable residents and look after people’s homes in one of the most expensive cities in the world. You do the same jobs as council staff, yet you are on worse pay and conditions, with many having no access to the council pension scheme. That is unfair, and you are right to say so.

UNISON is with you. You have the whole union behind you, from your branch and region to our national team. You voted because you want a fair deal, and I hope the employer will now sit down and negotiate one.

In solidarity,
Andrea Egan
General Secretary, UNISON

Talks have opened

Since the ballot, communication has opened up with the Group Chief Executive of TBG. He has agreed to review London Living Wage timing, annual leave and overtime. That is a step forward, but it does not go far enough.

We would much rather settle this dispute. On 15 October I wrote back to him with the points we want TBG to address:

  • Working week. Parity with LBB colleagues on 36 hours, instead of the 37.5 hours TBG Flex staff work now.
  • Annual leave. Movement towards 31 days.
  • Sick pay. Sick pay on LBB terms, with an indicative cost.
  • Overtime and night rates. A review that covers night, weekend and bank holiday rates, with a date for proposals.
  • Pay structure. Talks to start now on one clear pay structure.
  • Pensions. LGPS remains our aim. If TBG will not agree it, we have asked for a higher employer contribution to the Legal & General scheme, costed in stages, and for the joint meeting with the pension fund and LBB.
  • NJC pay awards. Written into contracts.
  • Policy review. A joint review of LBB and TBG policies.
  • London Living Wage. A firm date to pay the new rate, rather than waiting until April.

I have asked him to instruct TBG’s negotiating team to meet UNISON with proposals. We will also be approaching the Labour Party about funding contributions from LBB.

Message from Andrea Egan to Barnet’s Labour administration

To Barnet’s Labour councillors,

Barnet UNISON members at The Barnet Group, a company owned by your council, have voted for strike action. They want what their council colleagues already have: fair pay, decent terms and access to the council pension scheme.

They deliver housing and care services for your residents, in London, where the cost of living has never been higher. Labour came into government promising to end the two tier workforce and to put an end to poverty pay in care. Your own Prime Minister told conference that care workers deserve better.

I am asking you to work with UNISON to settle this dispute. That means backing proper negotiations now and supporting the funding to make a fair offer possible. Barnet UNISON is ready to talk. Please make sure The Barnet Group is too.

Andrea Egan
General Secretary, UNISON

What happens next

We will publish details of the picket lines, and where members should report on the day, as soon as they are confirmed.

If you have questions about the strike, please ask your local rep or email the branch at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk.

Barnet UNISON.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Barnet Group workers vote for strike action over poverty pay

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Barnet Group, Barnet Homes, Cost of Living Crisis, Insourcing, Local, London Living Wage, News, Pensions, Repairs, Solidarity, TBG Flex, UNISON Campaign, Your Choice Barnet

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Barnet Group workers vote for strike action over poverty pay

13 October 2026

Care workers and housing workers at The Barnet Group have voted for strike action, with 88% voting yes on a 55% turnout, well above the 50% the law requires.

The workers are employed at Barnet Homes and Your Choice Barnet, both owned by Barnet Council. They provide housing and care services to Barnet residents. These services were once run in house by the council. They are now delivered by workers on inferior contracts, often alongside council staff doing similar jobs.

The ballot seeks to end that two tier workforce.

UNISON is asking for:

  • a 36-hour week, down from 37.5 (40 for repairs staff)
  • 31 days annual leave
  • council overtime and night rates
  • council sick pay
  • talks on a single, transparent pay structure
  • access to the Local Government Pension Scheme
  • annual NJC pay awards written into contracts
  • the new London Living Wage paid when announced in October, not the following April
  • a joint review adopting council policies wherever they are better

The Barnet Group has refused every part of the claim and has been unwilling to enter proper negotiations. Staff are angry and morale is low. With food, energy and rent costs still rising, many say they are struggling to get by on what they earn.

At Labour conference on 29 September, Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke of care workers “caring for other people’s parents on poverty pay”. He said he wants “care that is about people not profit”. Care workers employed by a council owned company are on exactly that poverty pay.

Care worker, Your Choice Barnet: “I look after people who can’t look after themselves, then worry about my own gas bill. Council staff doing the same job get better sick pay and a pension. We just want the same.”

Housing worker, Barnet Homes: “We help residents who are struggling, and many of us are struggling too. People voted because they’ve had enough of being treated as second class.”

Helen Davies, Branch Chair, Barnet UNISON: “This is a clear result, and our members are confident. Nobody wants to strike, but The Barnet Group and Barnet Council have left us no choice. We are asking them to sit down and negotiate properly, starting now.”

Strike dates will be announced unless meaningful talks begin.

End.

 

 

Barnet Depot Workers Reject Holiday Pay Offer, Escalation Looms

Austerity, Cost of Living Crisis, Health and Safety, Local, News, Solidarity, Trades Dispute, UNISON Campaign

Barnet Council workers in Waste & Recycling and Street Cleansing have voted overwhelmingly against the council’s offer to settle twelve years of unpaid holiday pay, and UNISON has now requested an urgent meeting with the council’s Chief Executive to try to resolve the dispute before it escalates.

For over a decade, holiday pay on overtime worked by staff in these services was miscalculated under a payroll contract run by Capita on behalf of the council. Since the council changed payroll provider in 2025, the calculation has been done correctly — proof the problem was always fixable, and that workers were shortchanged for years while nothing was done.

In a consultative ballot that closed this week, turnout was above 90% in both services, and rejection of the council’s offer was close to unanimous — 100% in Waste & Recycling and 96% in Street Cleansing. UNISON has asked the council to substantially improve its offer, and has written to the Chief Executive requesting an urgent meeting by 9 October 2026. If a fair offer isn’t forthcoming, the union will move to a formal ballot for industrial action.

“These workers have waited twelve years to be paid properly, in the middle of a cost of living crisis that makes every missing pound count. The council’s answer so far has been a fraction of what’s owed. Our members have rejected that fraction, and rightly so — the council needs to come back with a serious offer, or this will escalate.”
— John Burgess, Branch Secretary, Barnet UNISON

“We’re writing in good faith, wanting a negotiated settlement. But the council’s offer has already been decisively rejected — 100% of those balloted said no. Members have been affected for years, some for over a decade, through no fault of their own. We’re asking the council for an offer that properly reflects the length of this underpayment and the loss members have suffered. That’s not too much to ask — the decision now rests with the council.”
— Dennis Moses, Street Scene Convenor, Barnet UNISON

Barnet UNISON represents over 3,000 members working for the London Borough of Barnet, The Barnet Group, Barnet Education and Learning Skills, and contracted services across the borough, including waste, cleansing, care, schools and council offices.

[Press contact 0208 359 2088 or email contactus@barnetunison.org.uk ]

 

DEPOT WORKERS – Holiday Pay: One-Week Consultative Ballot Opens Friday

Austerity, Cost of Living Crisis, Local, News, Solidarity, Trades Dispute, UNISON Campaign

Barnet UNISON is holding a one-week consultative ballot on the council’s revised holiday pay offer. The ballot opens Friday 18 September and closes Thursday 24 September.

The council has increased its offer from six months’ backdated pay to 18 months. UNISON reps for  will be contacting all members directly this week to collect ballot papers and get your vote in straight away.

This is not a pay claim. Members are not asking for more money — this is about being paid for work you have already done. That overtime was worked, it was relied on, and the law says it should have counted towards your holiday pay. The council has withheld that money from the workforce, and this offer still doesn’t cover the full period.

Your reps are recommending REJECT. Eighteen months is an improvement on the original offer, but it is not good enough.

Questions? Contact the branch: 0208 359 2088 / contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

End.

Weekly Blog Special: “Setting the Record Straight: Our Reply to TBG’s CEO”

Austerity, Local, London Living Wage, News, Solidarity, TBG Flex, Trades Dispute, UNISON Campaign

Hi everyone,

I am responding to the TBGs CEO (Elliott Sweetman) email to all staff sent on Thursday 10 September 2026.

The CEO’s message this week talks about one thing: the 3.3% NJC pay uplift, applied at his discretion. What it doesn’t mention is what we actually asked for.

In January 2026, Barnet UNISON submitted a full pay and terms claim to TBG on behalf of Barnet Homes and Your Choice Barnet members. It covered:

  • A £15/hour floor for the lowest-paid staff — costed by TBG itself at a fraction of one percent of budget
  • Proper overtime and night-shift rates, instead of a flat rate regardless of when you work
  • A shorter working week — cut from 37.5 to 36 hours, the same as Barnet Council staff
  • The same occupational sick pay scheme as Barnet Council staff
  • More annual leave, moving toward full parity with LBB’s 31 days
  • A single, transparent pay and grading structure, instead of the opaque TBG Flex model
  • No loss of existing rights as a condition of any settlement
  • And access to the LGPS for everyone — not just staff on legacy contracts.

TBG rejected the claim outright in March, refusing even a zero-cost request for a joint meeting to talk it through. In July, after the consultative ballot returned 97% (YCB) and 100% (Barnet Homes) in favour of action, we met TBG again — and they refused to negotiate on any single demand.

Every one of the demands above is covered by the same NJC/Green Book framework Sweetman quotes so selectively. TBG was set up specifically so its workers don’t get these basic terms — that’s not an accident, it’s the whole point of the model. TBG is a leftover from the Tories’ “easy council” playbook: strip terms out of the council, hand the work to an arm’s-length company, call it efficiency.

It also sits directly against the government’s own Employment Rights Act, passed this year, which is meant to strengthen workers’ rights — not give councils a way to dodge them through corporate structures.

And notice what the CEO’s own letter admits. At no point in any negotiation has TBG committed to automatically honouring the NJC pay decision for its staff, whatever it is, every year. His letter confirms it in black and white: this increase was applied “at our discretion,” not because TBG is bound to it. Council staff get the NJC settlement as a matter of contractual right. TBG staff get it only if and when management decides to be generous. That’s not a technicality — it’s about who holds the power. It’s another reason this vote matters: a “yes” is the only way to turn a discretionary favour into something you can actually rely on. 

Pensions are the biggest issue here, by far. TBG Flex was set up so that every new starter goes onto a contract with no LGPS access at all — just a private scheme with a fraction of the employer contribution. Only around a quarter of the combined workforce still has LGPS, and that share falls every year, because every new hire goes straight onto Flex. Giving everyone LGPS access would cost TBG in the region of £5 million a year — real money, but this is a company wholly owned by the council, and the council decides how much it funds TBG in the first place.

That’s the heart of it. You work in the same services as council staff, often in the same buildings, doing work the council could not run without you — but on a worse pension, worse sick pay, less leave, and a working week set up specifically to keep you off council terms.

Barnet Group workers should not be treated as second-class council workers. That’s not a slogan — it’s the deliberate design of the TBG Flex model, and TBG’s own board has said so in writing.

The CEO’s letter offers to sit down and discuss this with anyone, one-to-one or in a team meeting. But he won’t negotiate even the most basic improvements for our members — in the worst cost of living crisis in living memory. An offer to talk is not the same as an offer to move.

The CEO’s letter, landing in week two of the statutory ballot and talking only about pay, is timed to make you think this is a smaller fight than it is. It isn’t.

Vote. Whichever way you decide, make sure it’s an informed decision — not one shaped by a letter that leaves out almost everything we actually asked for.

Questions about the ballot or anything in this message — contact the branch: contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

 You will be receiving text messages asking if you have voted please respond.

Solidarity 

End.

Bus strikes – what you need to do now

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Cost of Living Crisis, Local, News, Solidarity, UNISON Campaign

Barnet UNISON depot members please read the advice below.

The Unite bus strikes affecting Arriva North London services start this Friday, 14 August, and continue on further dates through to October. If your journey to work depends on one of the affected routes, please read this and act now.

When the strikes are happening

Strike periods are: 14–15 August, 18–21 August, 25–28 August, 4–5 September, 7–8 September, 18–19 September, 21–22 September, 2–3 October, 5–6 October, and 16–17 and 19–20 October. Each period runs from just before 4am on the first date through to just before 4am on the day after the last date shown.

What to do now

If you think you’ll have trouble getting to work this Friday because your bus route is affected, speak to your supervisor today – don’t wait until the morning of the strike. The same applies ahead of every other date listed above. The earlier you flag it, the more time there is to sort something out.

What the Council is looking into

We’ve met with the Assistant Director, who is looking at practical ways to help affected staff get in on strike days. This includes putting on alternative transport, arranging car sharing, and asking supervisors to pick up staff who are struggling to get in. Nothing is confirmed yet, which is exactly why speaking to your supervisor now matters – it’s how you get included in whatever gets arranged.

If you’re not getting help

If you raise this with your supervisor and you’re not offered any practical support, or you’re told you’ll be marked late or absent through no fault of your own because of strike disruption, contact us straight away. Don’t just stay off work without speaking to your supervisor and to UNISON first.

Contact your workplace UNISON rep, or the branch office directly at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk , if you need help.

End.

 

 

 

Weekly Blog — speaking truth to power – National Care Service

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Barnet Group, Barnet Homes, Cost of Living Crisis, Disability, Local, London Living Wage, National, News, TBG Flex, UNISON Campaign, Your Choice Barnet

 

This week I published a piece on the branch website about the National Care Service debate. I want to use this blog to explain why I wrote it, what it means for our members right now, and where the dispute with The Barnet Group stands.

Why I wrote about a National Care Service

Politicians talk about creating a National Care Service the way they talk about most things — as a funding question. How much will it cost? How will it be paid for? Those are fair questions. But they are not the only ones.

After 31 years as a UNISON rep, I have watched care workers praised in speeches and shortchanged in their pay packets. I have watched outsourcing strip away decent terms. I have watched workers transferred out of council employment, away from the Local Government Pension Scheme, onto weaker sick pay, weaker holiday entitlement, weaker everything — and I have watched management call it an efficiency.

A National Care Service built on that foundation is not a National Care Service. It is the same fragmented mess with a new name on the door.

If the Government is serious, it starts with the workforce. Fair pay, secure contracts, collective bargaining, and access to a proper pension. You can read the full piece here: https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2026/07/30/a-national-care-service-must-start-with-the-workforce/

The dispute on our doorstep

While politicians debate the future, our members in Your Choice Barnet and Barnet Homes are living the present. And the present is not acceptable.

Earlier this month, 97% of Your Choice Barnet members and 100% of Barnet Homes members voted for industrial action in consultative ballots. Those turnouts would have comfortably beaten the statutory thresholds needed for a formal ballot. The message could not have been clearer.

The Barnet Group’s response? They refused to negotiate. They rejected the claim in full and said they would not move. That is not a negotiating position. That is a refusal to engage with people who deliver first-class public services on second-class pay.

We have now requested formal statutory industrial action ballots. That process is underway. The Barnet Group is wholly owned by Barnet Council. The council cannot stand to one side and say this has nothing to do with them. It has everything to do with them.

The pension question

One of the central demands in this dispute is access to the Local Government Pension Scheme. This matters and it is worth explaining why.

LGPS is not a gold-plated luxury. It is a defined benefit scheme that gives workers a degree of certainty about their retirement — the kind of certainty that has been taken for granted by council employees for decades. Workers transferred into TBG and Your Choice Barnet were moved away from it. That means lower retirement income for some of the lowest-paid workers in the borough.

We often hear that LGPS employer contributions make it unaffordable. The employer contribution rate is currently 20.4%. That is not a secret. But it is worth pointing out that the people who find LGPS “unaffordable” for frontline care workers tend to be the same senior managers who are themselves in the scheme and drawing from it. If it is good enough for them, it is good enough for the people doing the actual care.

What happens next

The formal ballot process has begun. If members vote yes — and I expect they will — strike action becomes a real possibility. That is not where anyone wants to be. But it is where The Barnet Group has taken us by refusing to negotiate.

If you work in Your Choice Barnet or Barnet Homes, make sure your contact details are up to date with the branch. Watch for your ballot when it arrives. And vote.

Best wishes John Burgess Branch Secretary, Barnet UNISON

 

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