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This week marked a significant landmark in what has been an exceptionally stressful time for former Barnet Council staff who worked across Back Office services such as Revenues & Benefits, Customer Services, Pensions & Human Resources, and Information Services. We were informed that out of 223 Capita CSG staff who were being consulted 130 staff will be made redundant on the CSG Capita contract.

I want to take this opportunity to look back at the original proposal and see what has changed.

Having reviewed the original Capita bid it is clear there have been some changes since the Capita bid was first disclosed in November 2012.

In order to help I have provided a table which provides staffing figures for Capita CSG services.

The first set of figures are taken from the first Barnet Council report which was published in December 2012, which identified Capita as the preferred bidder. These figures represent what Capita originally proposed would be the staffing figures for services by March 2014.

The second set of figures (End of consultation) are the actual staffing figures for CSG following the redundancy consultation. Please note only the services shaded in yellow were part of the 90 day consultation which started on Monday 7 October 2013.

 

 

Capita 350 local jobs going going …..

Would you take a 50% cut in pay, lose your pension and move three hundred miles?

That is what is facing former Barnet Council workers in Barnet if they want to follow the jobs Capita plans to transfer to Belfast, Carlisle, Blackburn, and Southampton among some of the various Capita locations.

As part of our statutory consultation with Capita, UNISON has been faced with the task of trying to find ways of mitigating the redundancies. As part of this process Capita as the employer has a responsibility to try and reach an agreement with the trade unions. At the start of consultation UNISON asked Capita to reconsider their business model but this was rejected and UNISON was asked to come up with an alternative.

But when you consider that Capita proposal is to make a 45% operational saving, export hundreds of jobs across the UK and employ staff on low wages and a poor pension it became clear that there was no chance for locally delivered service was going to be able to compete. Who could live in London on those terms & conditions? So far only a few staff have expressed an interest in moving with the job to some of the propose Capita locations. Secondly, because of commercially sensitive information it was impossible for Capita to be able to share the requisite information to enable a competitive alternative to be proposed. Lastly, Capita along with BT had a team of experts working on their proposed bid over a 18 month period which must have cost at least £1million something our UNISON branch does not have at its disposal.

“BUT where does this all end?”

George Osborne has announced even bigger cuts to public services, what does this mean for local jobs even in the north. Birmingham Council are facing enormous cuts and there is pressure on the long standing Capita Contract (service Birmingham). There is talk of terminating the contract and pressure for the Council to follow Barnet Councils lead and publish the contract for public scrutiny. What I suspect will happen is the contract will be re-negotiated and perhaps services exported out of Birmingham to another country in Europe of perhaps Asia.

“How many jobs can be exported out of the UK?”

I think the reliance on outsourcing services has become so dominant that public bodies are going to be held to ransom as the pressure to deliver savings creates the scenario whereby the private sector offer “off shoring” as the way to deliver more savings.

Back to Barnet.

 

It does look like that there are going to be significant redundancies

UNISON request Capita to withdraw their proposals

Dear Capita

I have a major concern regarding the lawfulness of the proposals to make employees redundant in the forthcoming TUPE transfer. Individuals who are made redundant will clearly be dismissed for a reason connected with the transfer which will be automatically unfair unless there is an economic, technical or organisational reason entailing a change in the workforce for the dismissals.

Whilst redundancy consisting in a reduction in head count may constitute such a reason the EAT in the case of Abellio London Limited v CentreWest London Buses UKEAT/0283/11has held that place of work redundancy does not. The forthcoming dis­missals will therefore be unfair and I therefore invite you to withdraw the proposal to dis­miss.

Best wishes

John Burgess

Branch Secretary

 

Barnet UNISON

*****Update Day 35 of a 90 day consultation with Capita

 

Some good news, the current IT service consultation is a little different to the other service consultations in that there is a possibility that some new posts could be created. It all depends on internal discussions with Barnet Council about IT projects which are badly needed in Adult Social Services and Children’s Services to name a few. Everyone working in these services has been waiting to hear when a new system will be implemented. Interestingly the recent controversy about £16.1 million IT investment does not cover this badly needed work hence the negotiations on the cost of this project work. We are hoping to hear next week if agreement on price is agreed in order to deliver this badly needed IT transformation; in which case there could be job opportunities for staff currently at risk of redundancy.

Day 35 of a 90 day consultation with Capita

UNISON has to report we have serious concerns that a third of the way into consultation it appears that the ‘goalposts have been moved’. Earlier this week a discussion took place over which jobs are being ‘migrated’ out of Barnet. We were discussing the selection criteria for those posts which are remaining in Barnet. Up until this point it has always been UNISON’s understanding and that of our members that if staff were unsuccessful in securing their own post in Barnet they would still have their post albeit it in another location outside of Barnet. In the course of the TUPE consultation this has been a key issue and we have seen a revised decision to increase the numbers of some posts to remain in Barnet. Until a final decision is made on this process nothing is certain, therefore it was disturbing to hear that staff are being told if they are unsuccessful in the interview their job is redundant. UNISON has formally written to Capita seeking confirmation of this point.

UNISON has also been seeking to understand how many staff are currently delivering services to Barnet in order to be able to construct a meaningful response. We have also sought financial information which is critical if UNISON is able to provide a sound financial and coherent alternative to job losses and redundancies. We have been promised this information but the clock is ticking….What we can report is that of the 563 posts which were running this service before transfer to Capita only 338 posts will remain working on the Barnet contract; and of the 338 posts only 238 posts will be delivered from Barnet with 126.1 posts being delivered outside of Barnet.

This means 325 jobs will be lost from Barnet if the current proposal is implemented.

If you want to support former Council staff please sign this petition and send a message of support to the branch at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

X files comes to Barnet via Capita Plc – View Flyer here

Information: Our branch is currently in consultation with Capita Plc over their proposals to restructure and relocate the former Barnet Council back office services. This is a controversial and complex consultation as the proposal looks to export jobs out of our community.

Our branch has three key aims:

1. To convince Capita to keep jobs in Barnet

2. To convince Capita to develop an alternative service delivery model

3. To reduce the number of job losses from our community.

In order to be able to have meaningful consultation it is important we have accurate information which includes a financial breakdown of savings for each of the services being delivered by Capita Plc.

Staffing.

UNISON has for the last nine months seeking to establish the total staffing establishment (occupied and vacant) for each of services in order to be able to achieve our aims.

Therein lies the problem. Trying to get an accurate picture of the staffing establishment has become a significant challenge and as such has become known in our branch as the “search for the truth” and like X Files Agent Mulder we believe the truth is out there……..its just a question of time……….!

Our Council now refers to itself as the “Commissioning Council”, others are calling it the “Disappearing Council” and others the “Hollowed Out Council”

All services both internal or contractors are referred to as Service Delivery Units. In order to explain our quest for the “truth” in relation to staffing establishment (which includes all posts occupied & vacant) we have produced a number of “service delivery vans”

You can sign a 38 degrees petition to “Keep jobs in Barnet” here

Please note community petition addressed to Capita Plc Chief Executive Paul Pindar.

To view and sign the petition click this link http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/capita-keep-our-jobs-in-barnet

Below are the details of the petition

“Dear Mr Pindar

As Chief Executive, you will be aware of the Capita Plc consultation with former Barnet Council staff starting on Monday 7 October 2013. You will know the Capita Plc proposal means hundreds of jobs are to be lost to Barnet, with no certainty that these will be recreated elsewhere in that community, resulting in a loss of local knowledge and another severe blow to the local economy that will have a negative impact on any remaining Council staff, residents and local traders. In the current economic climate this is unacceptable. I would ask that you directly intervene and provide a commitment that a new service solution is found that both protects and creates jobs in the community they serve.”

Why is this important?

In August 2013, Barnet Council signed a ten year £320 million contract with Capita Plc to take over the provision of the following services take over the running of the council’s back office services which includes customer services, human resources, finance and payroll, IT, revenues and benefits, estates, corporate procurement and commercial services.

Capita Plc proposed solution is to provide these services in Capita Call centres elsewhere in the UK which will ultimately lead to approximately 350 jobs losses to our community and upwards of 150 redundancies in Barnet.

We are passionate about local public services and believe people providing them have local knowledge and are accountable to the residents of Barnet. Not only that but local job losses will have a negative impact on our local economy as working people become jobless with a reduced income to spend in the local economy.

Information links

1. UNISON call on Capita to reverse mass redundancies in Barnet.  http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1273

2. Barnet UNISON Press Release: “From hard working families to ‘scroungers’ – Capita redundancies.  http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1272

3. Barnet Council publish Capita contract. http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1268

4. Barnet and Capita – some unusual contractual conditions?

http://spendmatters.co.uk/barnet-and-capita-some-unusual-contractual-conditions/

 

5. Union slams lack of transparency as Capita prepares to move 150 jobs out of Barnet http://ning.it/1fmk9tc

To view proposal click here

To view proposal click here