Category: Trades Dispute

Barnet council faces strike ballot over 12 years of underpaid holiday pay

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

Barnet, 12 October 2026

UNISON has registered a formal dispute with Barnet council on behalf of every member who was underpaid holiday pay on regular overtime while Capita ran the payroll. Depot workers, who asked first, will be balloted first.

At an emergency joint meeting on 9 October, UNISON registered a formal Failure to Agree. UNISON has asked UNISON HQ for a lawful strike ballot of depot workers, expected to start in early November, with possible action just before Christmas. UNISON has reserved the right to bring other workers into the dispute, and any gains will apply to all members affected. The door remains open to serious negotiation.

This is not a pay claim. It is money owed for work already done while Capita ran the payroll. UNISON has tried patiently to settle it since July 2025. Members have already compromised, asking for six years’ backdate, half the period. That is the floor and UNISON will not be drawn lower.

At the meeting, the council rejected that proposal and repeated that 18 months is its final offer, which it called reasonable and affordable. The council also says that even if a legal claim existed, workers could only recover two years. That misses the point. The law cannot give back twelve years of underpayment, so industrial action is the only leverage workers have. Hiding behind the law shows no remorse and no grasp of the failure to pay them properly.

UNISON put six questions about Capita to the Chief Executive. The council’s written replies avoided most of them. It says discussions with Capita are “ongoing” but will not say what about. Members want answers:

  1. Why did correct payment only begin after Liberata took over payroll?
  2. Was the council aware payments hadn’t been correctly implemented before 2025?
  3. Has the council conducted a full investigation into the historic payroll arrangement?
  4. Has the council sought an explanation from Capita regarding the failure?
  5. Has the council considered recovering the financial loss from Capita?
  6. What evidence supports the council’s position that six months is an appropriate settlement?

The council put millions into its Capita contracts and employed staff to monitor and enforce them. It has found money for that, but not for the people it underpaid. On 1 October the Labour group said Barnet was “taking back control” from Capita, and said the contract cost £200 million more than expected. UNISON agrees that is an outrageous sum.

Many depot workers have worked six-day weeks for years because basic pay is too low, and it wears down their bodies. The Prime Minister told Labour’s conference that “everyone is talking about how life is too expensive”, and criticised Westminster for prizing “point-scoring over problem-solving”. Barnet’s senior officers are doing the same. They met a compromise from members with point-scoring, then stuck to 18 months. Meanwhile workers are told to wait for their own wages. UNISON has briefed Labour councillors in meetings and emails and has had little support so far.

UNISON does not want a Birmingham-style bin dispute in London. Residents may remember the 2018 bin collection changes that led to thousands of missed bins and a huge agency bill. Without a change of attitude from senior officers, bins and fly-tips could pile up before Christmas.

Depot worker: “Let’s take action not only because of the money they owe us, but also because of the lack of respect they show us. All these people earn huge salaries thanks to our hard work. We’ve never heard a ‘thank you’ – just a lack of respect!”

Depot worker: “We are binman. The dirt is in our veins.”

Helen Davies, Branch Chair, Barnet UNISON: “These workers keep Barnet clean, and in a cost-of-living crisis they are told to wait for their own wages. The council can end this by treating it seriously.”

Dennis Moses, Street Scene Convenor: “Members have already halved their original claim, which represents a significant compromise in an effort to reach a fair settlement. Yet, in return, the Council has failed to provide a clear explanation of what went wrong under Capita and why workers were underpaid for so many years. Our members deserve answers, accountability and a fair settlement.”

John Burgess, Branch Secretary, Barnet UNISON: “This dispute should never have happened. We have been patient since July 2025. Our members offered to meet the council halfway and got point-scoring and the same 18 months. If bins pile up before Christmas, that is down to the council’s failure, not the workers it underpaid.”

About Barnet UNISON: Barnet UNISON represents 3,000 members across Barnet Council, The Barnet Group, Barnet Education and Learning Skills and contracted services.

Contact: contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

Notes to editors: UNISON’s 2018 coverage of the bin collection changes: https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2018/11/29/100-of-barnet-unison-bin-workers-agree-new-round-changes-have-failed-barnet-residents-bingate/

 

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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — 100% of Barnet bin and street cleansing workers reject holiday pay offer

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

18 August 2026

Barnet bin and street cleansing workers vote 100% to reject holiday pay offer, seek formal strike ballot

Council workers affected by Barnet Council’s 12-year holiday pay underpayment have unanimously rejected the council’s current offer, Barnet UNISON has announced and are now seeking a formal industrial action ballot.

In a consultative ballot, bin workers returned a 96% turnout with 100% voting to reject the council’s offer of six months’ backdated pay. Street Cleansing workers returned a 66% turnout, also with 100% voting to reject it — against underpayment that in many cases goes back to 2014.

The union has already written to the council’s Chief Executive and separately to Council Leader Barry Rawlings following the result, calling for urgent talks and asking the Leader to personally intervene.

A Joint Negotiating and Consultative Group meeting has since been confirmed for Monday 14 September, where the union will press the council on the questions it has raised.

UNISON has put a series of questions to the council that it says the public would reasonably expect answered, including why correct payment only began once a new payroll contractor took over in 2025, whether the council knew about the failure before then, whether a full investigation has taken place, whether Capita has been asked to account for the failure, whether the council has considered recovering the loss from Capita, and what evidence supports six months as an appropriate settlement.

The union is calling on the council to return to meaningful negotiation, provide full transparency on the payroll history, explain the basis of its offer, and come back with a significantly improved settlement that reflects the real duration and scale of the underpayment.

UNISON says that isn’t the outcome anyone wants — but with members having already signalled they’re ready to move to a formal industrial action ballot, continued council inaction risks strike action in Barnet as early as this autumn, which would mean bin collections and street cleansing grinding to a halt and the real prospect of fly-tipping building up across the borough.

“This result couldn’t be clearer. Not a single member who voted backed the council’s offer. We’ve asked the council for urgent talks — we’d much rather resolve this at the table than take it further. But if the council keeps standing behind Capita instead of doing right by the workers who kept this borough running, residents need to understand where that leads: a strike this autumn, bins left uncollected, and fly-tipping piling up across Barnet. That’s entirely avoidable, and it’s in the council’s hands to avoid it.”

The dispute follows a payroll error under former contractor Capita, which left overtime out of holiday pay calculations for staff who regularly worked it, including depot workers in waste, recycling, green waste and street cleaning.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Barnet UNISON represents around 3,000 members working for the London Borough of Barnet and associated employers.

Contact: contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

 

A National Care Service must start with the workforce

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

A National Care Service must start with the workforce

Rebecca Long-Bailey is right to argue that social care should become a universal public service, built on the same principle as the NHS: care according to need, not ability to pay.

But after 31 years as a UNISON representative, and decades organising and representing care workers in Barnet, I believe something fundamental is still missing from the national debate.

Politicians and the media repeatedly ask how much a National Care Service will cost and how it should be funded.

Those are important questions, but they are not the only questions.

We also need to ask who will provide the care, who will employ them, and on what pay, pensions and conditions.

There is no National Care Service without a national care workforce.

Three decades of outsourcing in Barnet

My first major involvement with care workers began in the late 1990s, when Barnet Council decided to outsource its residential care homes and day services.

The case put forward was that outsourcing was needed to secure investment in new and improved buildings.

Barnet UNISON opposed the proposal. We organised members and produced alternative reports challenging the argument that outsourcing was the only way to improve services.

At the same time, the council was implementing the national Single Status agreement. Care workers were moved from spot salaries onto a career-grade structure intended to provide fairer and more consistent pay.

The ink was barely dry on those new arrangements before the workers were told they were being outsourced.

The staff transferred to the Fremantle Trust. A few years later, the employer moved to impose significantly worse contracts.

Our members faced cuts to pay, sick pay and annual leave. Barnet UNISON members resisted through strike action, rallies, campaigning and meetings in Parliament.

We fought hard, but the cuts were imposed.

Much of the progress achieved through Single Status was undone. Skilled care workers delivering a public service were left with lower pay and weaker employment protections.

That experience taught us an important lesson.

Improvements negotiated through collective bargaining can be taken away when workers are transferred outside direct public employment.

The outsourcing model failed workers and services

The care-home contract later became the subject of a major financial dispute between Barnet Council and Catalyst Housing, which had partnered with Fremantle in the contract.

The dispute went to arbitration and resulted in substantial costs for the council.

Barnet Council eventually withdrew from the remaining contract. The services and staff transferred to Your Choice Barnet, part of the council-owned Barnet Group.

But the service did not return directly to the council.

The workers remained employed at arm’s length, outside council terms and conditions.

The history continued with the closure of Apthorp Care Home.

Residents had to leave their home and staff who had worked throughout the pandemic faced redundancy.

The building was reported to require millions of pounds of repairs despite being relatively new.

Once again, residents and workers carried the consequences of decisions made above them.

Home care followed the same pattern

Barnet UNISON also fought to retain the council’s in-house home-care service.

That service was outsourced.

Years later, part of the outsourced provision transferred to Aquaflo Care. The transfer ran into serious difficulties and the service was subsequently brought into The Barnet Group.

Several years later, The Barnet Group announced plans to close its Enablement Home Care Service.

The pattern has repeated itself throughout my time representing care workers:

A public service is outsourced.

The workforce is transferred.

Pay, pensions and conditions become fragmented.

The contract or provider runs into difficulty.

The service may eventually return to a council-owned organisation, but the workers do not necessarily regain council employment, council conditions or access to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

This is not history—our members are living it now

Today, Barnet UNISON is involved in a major dispute involving care workers employed by Your Choice Barnet.

These workers deliver essential adult social care services on behalf of Barnet Council.

They supported vulnerable residents throughout COVID. They carried on working when the risks to themselves and their families were very real.

Yet they remain part of a two-tier workforce.

They do not have the same core pay, terms and pension arrangements as directly employed council staff.

Our members are seeking fair pay, improved terms and conditions, a transparent pay structure and access to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

They should not have to consider strike action to secure basic fairness from an organisation wholly owned by the council.

This dispute exposes the gap between political promises about the future of social care and the reality experienced by the workforce.

The Prime Minister can speak about creating a National Care Service, but those words will mean little to care workers who remain underpaid, excluded from decent pensions and treated as second-class public-service workers.

A National Care Service cannot be credible if public bodies continue to deliver care through employment models that keep staff on inferior conditions.

The employment model matters

A National Care Service cannot simply be a new funding stream poured into the existing fragmented care market.

It cannot succeed while care remains dependent on outsourcing, low pay, insecure employment, inadequate sick pay and poor pension provision.

Nor is it enough to transfer services into council-owned companies while keeping the workforce outside council employment standards.

Public ownership must mean more than ownership on paper.

There must be no compromise about the employment model for care.

Care should be delivered as a public service through publicly accountable organisations.

Care workers should have:

  • fair pay determined through collective bargaining;
  • secure employment and guaranteed hours;
  • decent occupational sick pay;
  • nationally recognised training and genuine career progression;
  • equal treatment across the workforce;
  • and access to the Local Government Pension Scheme or an equivalent high-quality public-service pension.

There must also be a clear route for outsourced care services and their workers to return to direct public employment without losing existing contractual rights.

Listen to care workers

Any government serious about creating a National Care Service must speak directly to care workers and their trade unions before deciding how it will operate.

Care workers are not an afterthought.

They are not simply a cost in a funding model.

They are the people who make the service possible.

They understand what repeated outsourcing, fragmented commissioning and staff shortages mean in practice.

They know what happens when experienced workers leave because they cannot afford to remain in care.

They understand the impact that workforce instability has on older and disabled people who rely on consistent, trusted support.

For more than three decades, I have watched politicians praise care workers while supporting or tolerating employment models that hold down their pay, remove access to decent pensions and weaken collective bargaining.

Warm words are not enough.

Medals are not enough.

Calling workers heroes is not enough.

The care workforce is predominantly female, and many care workers are Black or Asian. They carry out skilled, physically demanding and emotionally demanding work.

They need justice at work, not another political promise that leaves their employment conditions untouched.

A National Care Service must be built around the people who provide the care.

It must end outsourcing and the two-tier workforce.

It must provide fair pay, decent conditions, collective bargaining and proper pensions.

The Prime Minister should start by looking at what is happening to care workers now, including those employed by council-owned companies such as The Barnet Group.

If the Government is serious about a National Care Service, it should support an employment model that treats care workers as public-service professionals—not as a source of savings.

Without a respected and properly rewarded workforce, there is no National Care Service.

Anything less is not good enough.

John Burgess
Branch Secretary, Barnet UNISON
UNISON representative for 31 years and lead representative for approximately 3,000 members

 

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — 17 JULY 2026 BARNET HOUSING AND CARE WORKERS MOVE TOWARDS STRIKE BALLOTS

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Barnet Group, Barnet Homes, Housing, Local, National, News, Pensions, Repairs, Solidarity, TBG Flex, Trades Dispute, UNISON Campaign, Your Choice Barnet

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — 17 JULY 2026

BARNET HOUSING AND CARE WORKERS MOVE TOWARDS STRIKE BALLOTS

Barnet Homes and Your Choice Barnet workers say “Enough is Enough” after TBG refuses to negotiate on pay, terms and pensions.

Barnet UNISON is preparing to request two separate formal industrial action ballots for members working in Barnet Homes and Your Choice Barnet, following a Special JNCC meeting with The Barnet Group today.

UNISON reported the results of two separate consultative ballots:

  • 97% of Your Choice Barnet members voted for industrial action
  • 100% of Barnet Homes members voted for industrial action

Despite these results, The Barnet Group confirmed at the meeting that it was not willing to negotiate on any part of UNISON’s claims.

The claims cover:

  • a proper pay increase, including a £15-an-hour minimum
  • improved terms and conditions
  • movement towards council-standard terms
  • access to the Local Government Pension Scheme

Barnet UNISON formally registered a failure to agree at the Special JNCC and advised TBG that the branch will now seek approval for separate statutory industrial action ballots for housing workers and care workers.

A Barnet Homes worker said:

“We deliver council housing services, but we are not treated like council workers. We work longer hours, receive worse terms and have no access to LGPS. Members have had enough of being told there is never any money for us.”

A Your Choice Barnet care worker said:

“We support vulnerable adults every day, often under huge physical and emotional pressure. Then we go home worrying about rent, food and bills. We are doing essential work in one of the most expensive cities in the world, but we are still treated as second-class.”

Helen Davies, Barnet UNISON Branch Chair and UNISON SGE representative for London, said:

“These ballot results send a powerful message. Housing and care workers are angry, organised and no longer prepared to accept second-class treatment. TBG has rejected every part of the claim and has now refused to negotiate, even after hearing that members are ready to take action. Enough is enough. Barnet Council owns The Barnet Group and cannot stand back while the workers delivering its services are treated this way.”

Barnet UNISON is calling on The Barnet Group and the London Borough of Barnet to return to negotiations with a serious proposal before the dispute escalates further.

Notes to editors

  • The Barnet Group is wholly owned by the London Borough of Barnet.
  • Barnet Homes provides housing services.
  • Your Choice Barnet provides adult social care services.
  • The consultative ballots were separate from the formal statutory industrial action ballots now being prepared.
  • Industrial action has not yet been authorised or called.

Media enquiries: contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

BARNET COUNCIL QUIETLY HALVED ITS PASSENGER ASSISTANT WORKFORCE — AND NEVER TOLD THE UNION

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Health and Safety, Local, News, Solidarity, Trades Dispute, UNISON Campaign

BARNET COUNCIL QUIETLY HALVED ITS PASSENGER ASSISTANT WORKFORCE — AND NEVER TOLD THE UNION

Trade union demands answers on outsourcing by stealth and the employment standards of workers supporting children with complex SEN needs

Barnet UNISON has formally challenged London Borough of Barnet and BELS management over the steady dismantling of the directly employed Passenger Assistant workforce — the staff who accompany children with special educational needs on school transport routes across the borough every day.

The directly employed workforce has been cut from approximately 85 in January 2021 to 42 today — a reduction of more than 50%. There are now 61 externally commissioned Passenger Assistants working on regular routes, outnumbering directly employed council staff. The council’s own documents confirm that vacancies have not been routinely refilled and that commissioned workers are used to meet continuing demand. No formal outsourcing exercise took place. No trade union consultation happened. No equality impact assessment was carried out.

Outsourcing in all but name

UNISON’s formal response — submitted to the JNCG chaired by the Chief Executive on 16 June 2026 — sets out that the council has effectively outsourced a public service through attrition: allowing permanent posts to disappear and replacing them with externally commissioned workers, without ever putting that decision to elected members as a workforce question or consulting the trade union.

A Cabinet report in May 2025 approved an external provider framework worth up to £1 million per year — £8 million over eight years. The same report records “None” under Consultation. The council is now saying that restoring direct employment would cost £225,000 per year more than the current model. That comparison has never been presented to Cabinet.

UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said: “The council hasn’t formally outsourced this service — it’s just stopped replacing people when they leave and handed the work to external providers instead. The outcome is the same. You’ve gone from 85 directly employed staff to 42, with 61 commissioned workers on regular routes doing the same job. No consultation, no equality assessment, no transparency. We need a straight answer: does the council intend to keep an in-house Passenger Assistant service or doesn’t it?”

Workers’ terms and conditions unknown

UNISON does not know what pay, sick pay, pension provision or continuity protections apply to the 61 commissioned Passenger Assistants currently working on regular routes. At the JNCG on 15 June, management confirmed they could not say what sick pay arrangements applied to commissioned workers.

For Passenger Assistants working daily with children who have complex health conditions and, in some cases, compromised immune systems, that is a direct health and safety concern. Workers without occupational sick pay are more likely to come in when unwell.

UNISON has also raised serious questions about health and safety incident reporting. Three separate reporting channels exist across the split management structure — none of them currently provides a complete picture of incidents involving Passenger Escorts on PTS routes. Management acknowledged at the JNCG that near misses are likely under-reported.

The Trade Union Engagement Framework, signed by the Chief Executive in December 2024, commits the council to sharing information with trade unions on service reviews and outsourcing matters, consulting on decisions affecting staffing, and giving serious consideration to keeping services in-house. UNISON has identified seven specific provisions that have not been honoured in this case. None of them were disputed at the JNCG.

A conflict of interest at the heart of the service

UNISON has also raised a structural concern about BELS’s role in the service. BELS simultaneously decides which routes are needed, manages contracts with external Passenger Assistant providers, and line-manages the directly employed LBB Passenger Assistants whose work the external contracts are displacing. UNISON has asked whether that arrangement has ever been subject to a formal governance review.

John Burgess added: “These are some of Barnet’s most vulnerable children. They build relationships with their Passenger Escorts over years. The council cannot say these workers are part of a commissioned model and then refuse to account for the employment standards that apply to them. We don’t know if they’re being paid the London Living Wage. We don’t know if they have sick pay. We don’t know what happens to a child’s regular escort if that worker isn’t available. That is not good enough.”

UNISON has set a 20-working day deadline for written responses. If those responses are not received, UNISON has indicated it will treat the matter as a formal failure to agree and will pursue the available routes.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Barnet UNISON represents approximately 3,000 members across the London Borough of Barnet, including employees of the council itself, its local authority trading companies (The Barnet Group and Barnet Education and Learning Services), schools, FE colleges, care services, environmental services, depots, and a range of contractors and outsourced providers.

The Passenger Transport Service provides school transport for children with special educational needs across 133 routes in Barnet.

The Trade Union Engagement Framework was signed by the Chief Executive of London Borough of Barnet in December 2024.

UNISON is separately pursuing an equal pay claim on behalf of more than 700 members against LBB, The Barnet Group, and BELS, with a preliminary Employment Tribunal hearing listed for September 2026.

Contact: Barnet UNISON — contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

 

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