UNISON members living in Barnet are taking up concerns about One Barnet with their local councillors.
In September there are a number events taking place at councillor surgeries.
You can view the details of surgeries here
Two simple things you can do
1. You can lobby your local councillor on line by clicking on the link here and just follow the instructions
2. Sign this petition here
For those staff not being outsourced Barnet Council has plans for you. Next Thursday the Remuneration Committee is meeting to discuss implementation of another One Barnet policy you can view the reports here
Not content with sending the majority of the workforce to the private sector and the redundancies which have inevitably followed they are now seeking to impose a grading scheme which we believe in a reduction in pay. Since 2009 pay has fallen by 13% and is now more than 10% below where it was in 1996
The headlines are the coming away from national pay bargaining, No automatic increments and changing the scheme which grades council posts.
Judging from previous failure of the Council to genuinely engage in meaningful consultation with the workforce & trade unions on One Barnet we are asking members to attend a branch meeting on Tuesday 25 September 12 pm in Conference Room 1 Food & Refreshments will be provided
The council are seeking to reach a collective agreement with UNISON on theser proposals it is important that our members provide feedback on what your key demands are.
Barnet Council have decreed that social workers (Adults & Children’s) will have to pay the increased social work accreditation (£78) to the new quango called Health Professions Council (HPC). When social workers registration began the branch negotiated a deal whereby the Council paid the registration fees. The branch position is to oppose and demand the Council continue to honour its contractual commitment to reimburse staff their registration fees.
The branch needs has organised a meeting on Wednesday 12 September from 12 –1pmin training room 6 Building 2, NLBP for ALL social workers across Children’s and Adults to gauge the views of our members. We will then conduct an inline ballot of their views before reporting back to the Council
Dear Councillors
Please find enclosed Briefing Number 2 (to view click here)
The briefing concerns a proposal in Cornwall Council for the creation of a Joint Venture for services similar those in the One Barnet NSCSO bundle.
Events have overtaken the production of this Briefing so for transparency I have included the latest news items which reveal that the Cabinet are going ahead.
Links to articles on Cornwall outsourcing
1. Part-privatisation of Cornish council services ‘will not be reversed’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-19489594
2. This breathtaking arrogance will be paid for at next year’s elections
3. Cabinet ignores vote by council
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Cabinet-ignores-vote-council/story-16836691-detail/story.html
4. Cabinet decision ‘not in the best interests of the people’
I hope you will take time to read our briefings, furthermore if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes
John Burgess
Branch Secretary.
Barnet UNISON
0208 359 2088
Barnet UNISON “Watch it & Share it”
Defend Our Pensions
Dear Councillor
Please find enclosed the first in a series of briefings to all councillors in regard to the One Barnet programme. ( to view briefing click here )
· Over the past four years UNISON has produced over 35 detailed reports
· UNISON has consistently sought a meeting to discuss an alternative to the One Barnet programme
· UNISON has attempted to provide a briefing on our concerns to all councillors in May and June this year
· UNISON offered a meeting with the Chief Executive and the Leader back in March 2012
· UNISON is still seeking a meeting with the Leader and members of the Cabinet Committee
· UNISON does not seek any preconditions for this discussion other than the Council genuinely enters into this dialogue with an open mind.
In my experience most councillors with whom I have spoken many will say they know very little about the One Barnet projects and many admit not having read the reports we have published. This is worrying in light of the fact that the Council is radically changing to a Commissioning Council where it no longer provides services.
Already we have seen council staff working for the following services transfer out of the council
· Legal Services,
· Parking Services,
· Adult Social Care,
· Housing services
Later this year decisions will be approved at Cabinet Committee to outsource two big One Barnet projects (NSCSO & DRS) worth up to £1Billion pounds which will tie the Council into *10 year contracts.
In November this year a decision will be made on the service delivery model for the One Barnet Street Scene project. Judging by the direction of travel of all other One Barnet projects it is likely that the outsourced model will be the one selected.
Even though these decisions are going to be made by Cabinet Committee the financial and electoral impact will affect all councillors not just for the short term but beyond the Council elections in 2014 and 2018
I hope you will take time to read our briefings, furthermore if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.
*= ‘Health Warning: There is no such thing as a flexible contract.’
Best wishes
John Burgess
Branch Secretary.
Barnet UNISON
0208 359 2088
Barnet UNISON “Watch it & Share it”
Defend Our Pensions
Open Letter to all 63 Councillors in the London Borough of Barnet
Dear Councillors,
It must be a challenging task to make decisions on behalf of all the residents in the London Borough of Barnet. These decisions involve so many areas of our lives – education, social care, health, housing, the environment. It must be even more difficult at a time of austerity when you are forced to make such difficult decisions about how to spend our money wisely and to the benefit of all of us.
On 29 November 2010 those of you who were members of the Cabinet approved the programme sponsored by the Chief Executive, the One Barnet programme of privatisation, which will award two contracts worth more than one billion pounds to private companies for a period of 10 years. In November 2012 all of you will be asked to approve this programme of privatisation. What a heavy burden of responsibility it must be to make such a huge financial commitment on our behalf. It is inevitable that residents will assume all of you are equally responsible for decisions made regarding the One Barnet programme of privatisation, and will hold you all accountable for its impact on their lives, its cost and its success or failure.
Experts in local government and on the impact of privatising services, as well as residents and council employees, have voiced concerns, but there seems to be a great reluctance on the part of representatives of Barnet Council to discuss or reveal details about the One Barnet programme of privatisation, despite residents, Unison and the Association of Public Services Excellence inviting them to attend discussions on the implementation of this programme. Have all of you been given the information needed to understand the impact of the privatization plan? Have all of you had enough time to debate the issues and difficulties in effective implementation of this plan?
When a new policy is implemented, there is always the risk of something going wrong and, with the amount of money being committed to the One Barnet programme of privatisation, any failure could have a huge impact both on Council finances and on services. Is there a Plan B if the One Barnet programme of privatisation is found to be unfit for purpose? If, as part of the privatisation programme, 70% of council employees become employees of a commercial company, how many staff will the Council retain to help put things right if or when something goes wrong?
When we elected you, we put our trust in you to make wise decisions on our behalf, using our money, but we did not give you the right to introduce new policies without consulting us. As you weigh up the pros and cons of committing us to the One Barnet programme of privatisation, with all its financial and legal implications we implore you to act in the best interests of all of us, residents and council employees alike.
We, as a group of residents, voters and taxpayers, are not satisfied with the proposed privatisation of services, as we believe the quality of our services will diminish.
Ask yourselves this question: you will no doubt put the interests of the residents you represent first, but will a private company be concerned about our best interests as much as the interests of their shareholders and making a healthy profit?
Yours sincerely,
Barnet Alliance for Public Services
Tuesday 11 September at 7 pm there will be another attempt to have a meaningful discussion about the One Barnet mass outsourcing programme.
See Press release by Barnet Labour Party
News from Labour
London Borough of Barnet Labour Group
We’re on your side
For immediate release
31 August 2012
Barnet Labour Opposition Debate: We need a Better Barnet, not ‘One Barnet’
Barnet’s Labour Group of Councillors has called a Full Council debate on developing a different approach to the Council’s unpopular ‘One Barnet’ service transformation programme.
Key themes of the Opposition Policy Item include :
· Restoring public faith in the democratic process
– There has been no consultation of local people on ‘One Barnet’ despite the risks involved, and the fact that it is a fundamental change in the way local services are delivered. Labour would have a proper community engagement plan in place.
– There is confusion over whether it is officers taking decisions or members – this needs to stop, and there needs to be proper member oversight and monitoring of the programme through a dedicated scrutiny committee. Labour would re-instate the dedicated One Barnet Scrutiny Committee.
· Keeping jobs local and supporting the local economy
– ‘One Barnet’ plans to allow local jobs to be re-located out of the Borough, and so far the Conservative administration has refused to require contractors to keep jobs and services in Barnet. Labour believes this should be a requirement.
– Local Traders have felt left out of discussions around skills, enterprise zones and apprenticeships. Labour would work in partnership with local traders and businesses when developing their local economic development plan.
· Assessing and minimising service transformation risk properly
– Council procurement practices are still poor resulting in contract overspends and financial risk – e.g. the cost of the contract for the ‘One Barnet’ implementation partner, Agylisis, has already exceeded by £1.24 million the specified upper limit of the contract, and we are only in year two of the three year contract. Labour believes the external auditor should investigate LB Barnet’s procurement practices before any further large contracts are let – including the two ‘One Barnet’ contracts for Development & Regulatory Services, and Support/Customer Services that are due to be signed by the end of this year.
– No Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) for residents have been done for either of the two ‘One Barnet’ contracts – both include services that have a huge impact on local residents, e.g. planning, licensing, environmental health, Revenues and Benefits and Customer Services. Labour believes EIAs must be completed before the contracts are signed.
– Risk assessments for the ‘One Barnet’ outsourcings have not been published – the public have the right to know that proper risk assessments have been done where £1 billion of services are being outsourced to a private contractor. Labour wants these published as a matter of urgency.
· The ‘Commissioning Model’ of One Barnet should be abandoned
– The commissioning and monitoring of council services should not be outsourced to a private company. Labour would stop this model.
– The council should stop wasting millions of pounds on expensive consultants, and use a little of it to undertake proper in-house services reviews, comparing the potential for in-house improvement against outsourced solutions to ensure value for money is achieved. Labour would do this.
– The council should not hand over its valuable income streams or savings to the private sector for their profit. This has already been done with re-cycling and parking – 50% of the income from the sale of re-cyclables goes to Barnet’s re-cycling contractor, and 50% of the savings made under the parking contract go to NSL – the new parking contractor. Labour believes income from council services should be re-invested in local services, and would use the new General Power of Competence to increase trading opportunities to do this.
– ‘One Barnet’ is supposed to be a ‘one public sector approach’ – this has not emerged. Labour would investigate sharing more services with other public sector partners and local authorities, and would look at providing more services through mutuals, co-operatives and co-production
Labour’s motion on creating a Better Barnet will be debated at the 11 September Full Council meeting.
Leader of the Barnet Labour Group, Cllr Alison Moore said: “One Barnet has been a damaging process and is fraught with risk. We need to restore public faith in the way the council does business – ours would be a very different approach, one that engages local people, traders and businesses. We are here to serve them, not ourselves – I think the current Conservative administration has lost touch with that.”
