Category: Local

In a meeting with staff working for Education & Skills last week , UNISON heard that Unified Pay timetable has slipped significantly and is unlikely to be ready before March 2016.

I can confirm that UNISON is still taking part in work on the new grades for all the jobs including those based in our community schools.

Once the Council is ready to release the details of the new grading, UNISON will be organising borough wide meetings with our members to discuss the proposals.

Please keep a look out for our updates on Unified Pay.

 

John Burgess

Branch Secretary

Barnet UNISON

On Wednesday 3 June 2015 Barnet UNISON attended two meetings at which Education & Skills and Schools Meals staff were informed that the Council were in talks with Capita & Mott MacDonald (Cambridge Education) about taking over their services.

It would be fair to say that the general feeling of the meeting was that the current proposal for privatisation was not supported and there was a strong view from staff that the prospects of the current proposal generating growth were bordering on fantasy.

Today, 8 June at a UNISON meeting staff mandated the branch to write to all Councillors on the Children’s, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee outlining our concerns and seeking a postponement of the process.

UNISON recommendations:

Barnet UNISON strongly recommends that the Council should:

1. Postpone the Competitive Dialogue until the revised Outline Business Plan is completed and agreed by the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee.

2. Revise the financial modelling for trading income in the JVC option as a matter of urgency.

3. Revise the Education and Skills Outline Business Plan to take account of the financial, organisational, risk and operational implications of subcontracting the bulk of the workforce to another private contractor.

4. Seek confirmation from the bidders about their long-term plans for all the Education and Skills services and to reject proposals that involve subcontracting of services, except for obtaining specialist advice and skills.

5. Exclude the Catering Service from the JVC option and retain in-house.

6. Revise the Equalities Impact Assessment for Education and Skills to include a full employment profile of those employed in the services.

7. Re-examine the responsibilities, accountability and the decision making process, contract clauses and the method of monitoring and scrutinising the performance of a major subcontractor.

8. Require open book accounting for the JVC, a profit-sharing agreement and an annual report from the JVC as part of transparency for schools and the public.

You can read our full report here

View flyer click here

 

It sounds amazing especially when you consider:

1. The increased spend on Agency & Consultants

According to local Blogger Mr Reasonable

“In 2012/13 Comensura billed £12.5 million, In 2013/14 it rose to £13.8 million and this year, 2014/15 it has jumped again to £15.5 million.”

http://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/barnet-council-where-are-savings-who.html

2. The amount of outsourcing that has taken place over the last three years where the following Council services have been transferred to another employer.

1. Your Choice Barnet

2. Housing Options

3. NSL (parking)

4. Capita CSG: Finance, HR, Payroll, Estates, Property Services, Pensions, Revenue & Benefits,

5. Capita Re: Building Control, Environmental Health, Planning, Trading Standards & Licencing

6. Legal Services

7. Registrars & Nationality Services

8. CCTV

9. Music Trust

10. Mortuary Services

3. Why the headline above?

Take a look at this report which was submitted to the Performance & Contract Monitoring Committee on 12 May 2015.

http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s23134/Appendix%20A%20-%20Performance%20Report%20Quarter%204%20201415.pdf

Please note the Total Established Position it states there are 3080.00 FTE

Then compare with staffing figures presented to Performance & Contract Monitoring Committee on 11 November 2014.

http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s19070/Appendix%20A%20-%20Performance%20Report%20Quarter%202%20201415.pdf

Please note the Total Established Position it states there are 2431.00 FTE

According to the Council’s own staffing data that means an increase of 649 FTE posts in the space on 6 months.

UNISON has been involved in a number of restructures over the last 9 months and staff have been made redundant. There are now staff at risk of redundancy working in children’s centres.

What is worrying it that we have not been informed of where these 649 jobs have been created!

“A huge roll call of services privatised, jobs outsourced around the country, local residents left without vital support – Barnet Unison members are saying enough is enough, writes JOHN BURGESS”

Read article here: http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-33b4-WHY-WERE-STRIKING-TODAY#.VW4dfM9Vikp

How far does Cameron want to shrink the state? Ask Barnet’s binmen –

Aditya Chakrabortty. Guardian Newspaper

“I’d urge you to support the binmen, care workers, librarians and other council staff striking in Barnet right now.”

“this fight in an outer-London borough forms the frontline of one of the most important battles in Britain today.”

“the cost of interim and agency staff is ballooning from £12.5m two years ago to £15.5m.”

“What you’re seeing in Barnet is not some one-off, but a test case.”

“In David Cameron’s first term, public sector outsourcing almost doubled to £120bn.”

“This makes what’s happening this week in Barnet, and the fight it’s part of, so vital.”

“If you support decent public services, you have to support those strikers in Barnet foregoing pay.”

“And if you want to live in a country run as a democracy, with all its flaws and failings – rather than by big companies answerable to hardly anyone – their cause is yours.”

Read article here: http://t.co/rXCqZWRTF9

#‎BarnetStrikers