Category: Trades Dispute

Barnet UNISON mental health social workers dispute with Barnet Council since 1 September 2023 has been over the failure to agree a recruitment and retention payment due to high turnover of staff across three mental health social worker teams.

On Monday 15 July 2024 UNISON wrote to Barnet Council suspending strike action and agreeing to go into talks to try and resolve the dispute.

Unfortunately talks broke down as it became clear in the meeting that Barnet Council was not prepared to reconsider their position.

The following facts provide a glimpse of the scale of the crisis facing Barnet Council.

• 50% of the permanent workforce will have left one of the three mental health social work team workforce since 1 January 2024.
• 31 mental health social workers will have left one of the three mental health social work teams in the last two years.
• 12 mental health social workers have left the mental health social work team North in the last two years.
• 19 mental health social workers have left the mental health social work team South in the last two years.
• Did you know that 40% of AMHPs have left the AMHP team in the last two months.
• 100% of AMHPs across the North and South mental health teams resigned and left the Council by the end of August 2024.
• In July 2023 Barnet Council informed UNISON that they had a budget of £266k to resolve this dispute.
• In a meeting with Acas in March 2024 with UNISON they doubled their budget to £532k.
• It would cost £150k to settle this dispute

You can read more facts about this dispute here on our website http://All you need to know about Barnet UNISON mental health social worker strike https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2024/09/04/all-you-need-to-know-about-barnet-unison-mental-health-social-worker-strike/

 

At our last meeting with Barnet Council our reps informed senior management that they were leaving because it had become clear that Barnet Council does not value their staff or service users. Our members strongly believe that it is not safe to practice as a mental health social worker in the three frontline mental health teams.

“It has become apparently clear that Barnet Council has chosen confrontation rather than negotiation to resolve this high-profile dispute. It is not about the money because we know there is a pot three times bigger than what would be needed to bring this dispute to a close. The sheer scale of the numbers of social workers leaving these three teams should have set alarm bells ringing with senior management. The fact that they appear unconcerned about the risks of the chronic levels of turnover has left mental health social workers feeling deeply unsafe. We still have some members who are currently still working but feeling very scared about what could happen in terms of risks. Failure to end this dispute will leave Barnet Council exposed as an uncaring and unsafe workplace for mental health social workers.

I have recently reached out to the Chief Executive and Leader of Barnet Council to come back with a revised offer which may be able to retain some of the current staff and encourage experienced mental health social workers to come and work for Barnet.

Until there is a credible offer the Barnet UNISON mental health social worker dispute remains live and we will continue to report on the dispute. It is our duty to advocate for a safe working environment for our members and no one will silence our voice for our members.” (John Burgess, Branch Secretary, Barnet UNISON).

 

Notes to Editors.

Contact details: Barnet UNISON branch on 0208 359 2088 to leave a message on our voicemail or email: contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

Background:

1. ‘It’s Soul Destroying’: Why Barnet Social Workers Are on Strike.

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/06/its-soul-destroying-why-barnet-social-workers-are-on-strike

2. Euphoria felled by reality and scant ambition – I have seen what could be Labour’s future | Aditya Chakrabortty | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/02/euphoria-reality-labour-future-thatcher-tory

3. Mental health social workers consider striking over staffing levels. 20 June 2023

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2023/06/20/mental-health-social-workers-consider-striking-over-staffing-levels/

4. Strike ballot opens for mental health social workers. 8 August 2023.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2023/08/08/strike-ballot-opens-for-mental-health-social-workers/

5. Mental health social workers vote to strike over ‘chronic staffing issues’ 6 September 2023.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2023/09/06/mental-health-social-workers-vote-to-strike-over-chronic-staffing-issues/

6. Social workers to take 26 days’ further strike action in pay and staffing dispute.26 October 2023.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2023/10/26/social-workers-to-take-26-days-further-strike-action-in-pay-and-staffing-dispute/

7. Inside a social work strike: the staff fighting for a ‘safe service’ 31 October 2023.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2023/10/31/inside-a-social-work-strike-the-staff-fighting-for-a-safe-service/

8.Social workers re-balloted on striking after 27 days of action leaves pay dispute unresolved. 18 February 2024.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/02/18/social-workers-re-balloted-on-striking-after-27-days-of-action-leaves-pay-dispute-unresolved/

9. Social workers to take nine more weeks of strike action as talks fail to resolve dispute.

8 March 2024.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/03/08/social-workers-to-take-nine-more-weeks-of-strike-action-as-talks-fail-to-resolve-dispute/

10. Firm pulls out of providing service for council that union claims would have broken social work strike. 17 April 2024

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/04/17/firm-pulls-out-of-providing-service-for-council-that-union-claims-would-have-broken-social-work-strike/

11. Social workers reject council offer to settle dispute after more than 40 days of strike action. 16 May 2024.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/05/16/social-workers-reject-council-offer-to-settle-dispute-after-more-than-40-days-of-strike-action/

12. Social workers escalate dispute with nine-week walkout. 17 May 2024

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/05/17/social-workers-escalate-dispute-with-nine-week-walkout/

13. Council to buy in service to cover social workers during 9-week strike. 21 May 2024.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/05/21/council-to-buy-in-service-to-cover-social-workers-during-9-week-strike/

14. Union threatens court action over council plan to cover social work strike.

24 May 2024

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/05/24/union-threatens-court-action-over-council-plan-to-cover-social-work-strike/

15. Council outsources mental health service to cover social work strike 10 June 2024.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/06/10/council-outsources-mental-health-service-to-cover-social-work-strike/

16. Mental health social workers pose greatest recruitment and retention challenge for adults’ services. 25 June 2024.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/06/25/mental-health-social-workers-pose-greatest-recruitment-and-retention-challenge-for-adults-services/

17. Mental health social workers return to work after nine-week strike 16 July 2024

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/07/16/mental-health-social-workers-return-to-work-after-nine-week-strike/

18. ****This is where it all began in Barnet Council in 2016****

Council sheds qualified social worker posts to save money. 22 November 2016.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2016/11/22/council-sheds-qualified-social-worker-posts-save-money/

19.

 

Background.

There are three mental health social work teams in this dispute.

• Mental Health Social Work North Team = 13 staff.
• Mental Health Social Work South Team = 14 staff.
• Approved Mental Health Professional Team (AMHP) = 5 staff

Barnet UNISON mental health social workers dispute with Barnet Council since 1 September 2023 has been over the failure to agree a recruitment and retention payment due to high turnover of staff across three mental health social worker teams.

On Monday 15 July 2024 UNISON wrote to Barnet Council suspending strike action and agreeing to go into talks to try and resolve the dispute.

Unfortunately talks broke down as it became clear in the meeting that Barnet Council was not prepared to reconsider their position.

This report seeks to provide information about the dispute which is now one of the longest running disputes in UNISON’s history.

*As this dispute is still ongoing this article will be continuously updated.

 

Leaver’s data.

1. Did you know 50% of the permanent workforce will have left the three mental health social work teams workforce since 1 January 2024.

 

2. Did you know that 31 mental health social workers will have left one of the mental health social work teams in the last two years.

 

3. Did you know that 12 mental health social workers have left the mental health social work team North in the last two years.

 

4. Did you know that 17 mental health social workers have left the mental health social work team South in the last two years.

 

5. Did you know that the mental health social work team South has no AMHPs.

 

6. Did you know that mental health social work team North has no AMHPs as from 1 September 2024.

 

7. Did you know that only one out of a mental health social work team management team of four is an AMHP.

 

8. Did you know that two out of four managers mental health social work teams have no previous experience of working in mental health services.

 

9.Did you know that by the end of August 2024 of the four Lead Practitioner (LP) posts across North and South mental health social work teams there will be two vacancies, leaving only one LP with experience working as a mental health social worker and one LP with no previous experience working as a mental health social worker.

 

10. Did you know that 40% of AMHPs have left the AMHP team in the last two months.

 

11. Did you know that there are only 3 AMHPs across the three mental health social work team teams.

 

12. Did you know that there are only 3 social workers left out of 14 who were in the mental health social work team North on 11 August 2022. Nine of the social workers have left. This represents 80% of the team. Please note that this team only employed social workers. Barnet Council introduced unqualified staff into the team in 2023 when social workers started to leave.

 

13. Did you know that there are only 3 social workers left out of 14 who were in the mental health social work team South on 11 August 2022. Nine of the social workers have left. This represents 80% of the team. Please note that this team only employed social workers. Barnet Council introduced unqualified staff into the team in 2023 when social workers started to leave.

 

Service user issues

1. Did you know that every time a social worker (either permanent or locum) leaves this means further disruption for mental health service users.

 

2. Did you know that there is still a 17-month waitlist for service users with mental health problems.

 

Barnet Council

1. Did you know that Barnet Council were asked to provide staff leaving data in July 2023 and only brought some data at a meeting with UNISON in March 2024. The data provided was not evidence of recruitment and retention issues.

 

2. Did you know that in July 2023 Barnet Council informed UNISON that they had a budget of £266k to resolve this dispute.

 

3. Did you know in a meeting with Acas in March 2024 with UNISON they doubled that figure to £532k.

 

4. Did you know that Barnet Council said they could easily settle our dispute because it was cheaper.

 

5. Did you know that it would cost £150k to settle this dispute?

 

6. Did you know that it took Barnet Council seven months before they would agree to a meeting with UNISON and Acas.

 

7. Did you know that in July 2024 UNISON wrote to Barnet Council suspending strike action. In that meeting with the knowledge that another 25% of permanent social workers had handed in their notice, Barnet Council brought no revised offer to the negotiating table.

 

8. Did you know that Barnet Council used a recruitment agency to strike break. They deny it was strike breaking arguing they outsourced the service. There has been no consultation about outsourcing services with UNISON.

 

9. Did you know that Barnet Council carried out a restructure of mental health social work teams. A report entitled “Adults Social Care Mental Health Service Restructure Consultation Report and Final Proposals, July 2022” was shared with staff.

Two years on and this is the list of their 17 outstanding actions:

• There will be further consultation and engagement with staff to review team criteria; improve processes and pathways; and ensure there are effective ways to work alongside health colleagues for the benefit of the residents we support.
• Move of MH Front Door to SCD – suggested this is postponed until referrals criteria are confirmed and training for SCD staff is provided on this basis
• To develop and implement a retention strategy for mental health social work staff
• To review existing staffing ratios in mental health service to ensure sufficiency and that teams can operate safely and will not be at risk of burn out.
• Further need for data cleansing (those noted on Mosaic as having a mental health as a primary need are accurately recorded as such) and addressing backlog of updating contacts in Mosaic
• Co-production with people we support to find out what they think and what changes are necessary.

Ideas to explore further in transformation process:

• A multi-agency crisis team
• Staff specifically dedicated to conducting Care and Support Plan reviews
• Specialist worker for carrying out CHC checklist or using existing resources in CHC.

Risk highlighted:

• End of Think -Ahead Students placements impacting negatively on capacity (students are currently holding large number of cases)
• Backlog of reviews.

 

• Gaps in service availability need to be addressed by the commissioning plan.
• Additional business support resource was added to the original proposal.
• The transfer of the MH front door to SCD has been postponed until September, to ensure criteria are clear and staff have been trained on this basis.
• Further work will be undertaken as part of the workforce strategy and business planning process to look at the capacity of teams across adult social care given the pressures of demand that the service faces.
• Duty arrangements will need to be finalised and discussed with managers and staff to reflect the move of initial contact to SCD.
• Mental Health Teams wished to maintain access to Rio.

 

Publicity about the dispute.

1. Did you know that Community Care published 15 articles about this dispute which you can read here on our web site.

https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2024/07/29/barnet-council-mental-health-social-worker-recruitment-crisis-community-care/

 

2. Did you know that UNISON wrote to CQC outlining our serious concerns about the crisis unfolding across mental health social work teams https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/FINAL-LETTER-TO-CQC.pdf

 

3. Did you know that UNISON wrote to Association of Directors of Social Services (ADASS) outlining our serious concerns about  the crisis unfolding across mental health social work teams https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/FINAL-LETTER-TO-ADASS.pdf

 

4. Did you know that UNISON wrote to Social Work England outlining our serious concerns about the crisis unfolding across mental health social work teams https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/FINAL-LETTER-TO-SWE.docx

 

5. Did you know that UNISON wrote to Executive Director of Adult Social Care Dawn Wakeling outlining our serious concerns about the crisis unfolding across mental health social work teams https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2023/11/16/open-letter-to-executive-director-of-adult-social-care-mental-health-social-work-dispute/

 

6. Did you know that UNISON wrote to Director of Adult Social Care James Mass outlining our serious concerns about the crisis unfolding across mental health social work teams https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2023/11/16/open-letter-to-director-of-adult-social-care-mental-health-social-work-dispute/

 

7. Did you know that UNISON wrote to Leader of Labour controlled Barnet Council Barry Rawlings outlining our serious concerns about the crisis unfolding across mental health social work teams https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2023/11/15/open-letter-to-cllr-barry-rawlings-leader-of-barnet-council/

 

8. Did you know that UNISON produced a community newspaper (Barnet VOICE) for Barnet residents outlining our serious concerns about the crisis unfolding across mental health social work teams

https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Barnet-Voice-4-v08.pdf

 

9. Did you know that 20,000 community newspapers were delivered to Barnet residents.

 

10. Did you know that Guardian Journalist Aditya Chakrabortty wrote an article about this dispute entitled “Euphoria felled by reality and scant ambition – I have seen what could be Labour’s future | Aditya | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/02/euphoria-reality-labour-future-thatcher-tory

 

11. Did you know the Tribune newspaper covered the dispute in this article. ‘It’s Soul Destroying’: Why Barnet Social Workers Are on Strike. https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/06/its-soul-destroying-why-barnet-social-workers-are-on-strike

 

12. Did you know that an Early day motion was submitted about the Barnet UNISON mental health social worker dispute which you can view here https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/61831/barnet-mental-health-union-dispute

 

13. Did you know that hundreds of trade union members have signed a public statement calling upon the Leader of Barnet Council, Cllr Barry Rawlings to stop the use of agency workers to strike break. View statement here

https://bit.ly/barnetstrike

 

 

End.

The statement below is online and open for all to sign by clicking on the link below

https://bit.ly/barnetstrike

 

LABOUR CONTROLLED BARNET COUNCIL STOP STRIKEBREAKING.

Dear Cllr Rawlings

We are writing to you as Leader of Barnet Council to urge you to terminate the use of the recruitment agency Imperium Solutions and to sit down with UNISON and end this dispute.

Barnet UNISON mental health social workers have been on strike for 54 days over a ten-month period. They are currently on a nine-week strike ending on Friday 12 July.

On Friday 17 May 2024, in an email to all staff, a senior council officer acting on behalf of Labour controlled Barnet Council announced that they were going to employ social workers to carry out work which would normally be done by our strikers.

UNISON swiftly wrote to Barnet Council warning it UNISON believed that:

“should LBB procure strike cover as described in this letter, it would be procuring the services of an employment business, Regulation 7 of the Regulations would be breached and a criminal offence would be committed under the Employment Agencies Act 1973. As explained above, this would likely also mean a number of ancillary criminal offences are committed by LBB.”

UNISON also wrote to Imperium Solutions (info@imperiumsolutions.co.uk) asking them to pull out of their contract with Barnet Council.

However, as of 5 June 2024, Imperium Solutions are still providing social workers to break our lawful strike action.

We are now in a General Election and The Labour Party has consulted trade unions over their policy called: Delivering A New Deal for Working People.

This is an extract:

The rules around agency workers in breaking strikes were condemned by industry and put the safety of the public and workers at risk. It places unnecessary red tape on trade union activity that work against their core role of negotiation and dispute resolution. Over the past 14 years, the Conservatives have consistently attacked rights at work, including through the Trade Union Act 2016, the Minimum Service Levels (Strikes) Bill and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022 – all of which Labour will repeal to give trade unions the freedom to organise, represent and negotiate on behalf of their workers.

The actions of your senior officers are at odds with the above policy.

There is no place across the trade union movement for use of agency workers to break strikes. As the Leader of Labour controlled Barnet Council, we are asking you to urgently stand down the recruitment agency and enter into talks with UNISON.

Signed,

 

To sign this statement click on the link below.

 

https://bit.ly/barnetstrike