Transformation Programme - Report to Scrutiny Panel 25th March 2014

A report updating North Somerset councillors on the contract negotiations with Agilisys went to the Community and Corporate Organisation Policy & Scrutiny Panel this week. The full report is at this link: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc25528.pdf

The councillors were also given a presentation on the contract negotiations, which included a rather complicated looking bubble chart designed to blind them with science. The councillors decided that a special working group will scrutinise the contract negotiations and the Transformation Programme, and they have agreed to our request to attend the meetings of the working group, although we will not have voting rights.

The main points of the report and presentation are:

• Transferring more jobs and services to Agilisys, including customer services, business support and transactional services.
• Extending the contract with Agilisys by another 5 years - taking it to a 15 year contract
• Expecting a 20% to 30% saving on new services and a discount on existing services
• Giving them other business over the life of the contract - we're not sure what that is yet
• Asking Agilisys to help them with the Transformation Programme, including IT transformation and Shared Services

The report states that the annual cost of Support Services is now £10.66 million. But interestingly when the council voted to award the contract in August 2010 the annual cost was £10.379 million. This seems odd given the contract was supposed to reduce the cost of support services by £1.5 million in the first 2 years.

The timescale for the contract negotiations will involve a report to full council on 6th May, which will include draft proposals from Agilisys, and then a further report to full council on 23rd September, which will include the full business case and at that point councillors will vote to approve services transferring, with the transfer of staff and services being completed by December.

As well as attending the contract scrutiny working group, UNISON will be campaigning against further service transfer, and we need all North Somerset UNISON members to lobby the council meeting on 6th May from 5.30 pm outside the Town Hall in Weston.

Local Government Pay Claim - Consultative Ballot

Over the next few days members of North Somerset UNISON working in Local Government will be receiving consultative ballot papers asking them to reject the pay offer which is as follows:

• £580 on pay point 5
• £550 on pay point 6
• £400 on pay point 7
• £275 on pay point 8
• £200 on pay point 9
• £175 on pay point 10
• 1% on pay points 11 and above

UNISON is clear the Employers' below-inflation final pay offer falls woefully below the aspirations in our 2014-15 pay claim and what our members deserve. It does nothing to begin restoring the 20% real loss in NJC pay value since 2010 and the effect falling pay has on members’ future pensions. It means yet another year with a further pay cut for the vast majority of our members. It leaves half a million NJC members below the Living Wage and the lowest paid 50,000 just 30p above the National Minimum Wage.

UNISON strongly recommends this meagre final offer is REJECTED and that we move to an official industrial action ballot in support of the claim on behalf of those employed on NJC terms.

Please make sure you fill out your ballot paper and give your view on this year's pay offer, which due to inflation being close to 2%, is in fact a pay cut.

Transformation Programme - Consultative Ballot

All North Somerset UNISON members working for North Somerset Council should have received a consultative ballot paper in the post over the last few days. It is really important that as many members as possible take part in this ballot, so that branch officers know where the members stand when we go into meetings with management.

From the information we have so far the Transformation Programme is likely to lead to a combination of privatisations and redundancies, unless UNISON members act now.

Make sure you fill out your ballot paper and return it to the branch office.

You can also come to a meeting to find out more:

· 27th March at 12.30pm – Town Hall, Kenn room
· 3rd April at 12.30 pm – Town Hall, Hutton suite
· 10th April at 12.30 pm - Castlewood room G08
· 16th April at 12.30 pm – Town Hall, Hutton suite
· 22nd April at 12.30 pm – Castlewood, room 1.08
· 30th April at 1.15 pm – Castlewood, room 1.08
· 1st May at 12.30 pm – Town Hall, Kenn room
· 6th May at 12.30 pm – Town Hall, Kenn room

Transformation Programme - write to your councillor

It is really important that all North Somerset UNISON members who also live in North Somerset write to their councillor to express their concerns about the Transformation Programme and the impact on jobs and services.

Please use the following link to email your councillor:
https://www.writetothem.com/

All you have to do is put your postcode in and it will give you the names of your councillors.

If you would prefer to write a letter to your councillor you can find their contact details at: http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Your_Council/The%20Council/councillors/Pages/Councillors-by-name.aspx

What you write is up to you but you may want to say something about the impact on your job and service if the council decide to either make your job redundant or transfer it to Agilisys, another private sector organisation, or another council.

If you can also send a copy of your email or letter to North Somerset UNISON then that would be useful for us. You can put it in the internal post to the UNISON Office at the Town Hall or email it to unison@n-somerset.gov.uk

Remember there is an election in 2015 and if you live in North Somerset, as well as work for the council, you are one of their electors. So they need to hear from you.

Transformation Programme - all UNISON members working at North Somerset Council are at risk

ALL MEMBERS ARE AT RISK OF REDUNDANCY AND PRIVATISATION! 
(FROM THE TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME)

The Council has recently announced a Transformation Programme which will affect all UNISON members working at the council either directly or indirectly. Much of what is planned seems to have come about as a result of the work done by Price Waterhouse Cooper last summer. PWC were hired to look at how the council could make further cuts, and UNISON has been provided with a copy of the report. The report is currently not in the public domain, but we are very worried about the impact on staff, which is likely to be a combination of redundancies and privatisations - specifically more staff transferring to Agilisys. When the council awarded the contract to Agilisys they argued that jobs would be saved, but Agilisys have made a number of redundancies and changes to staff terms and conditions. Staff that transferred to Agilisys have seen their jobs change and are also now working on all sorts of contracts, not just North Somerset Council work. Also as a result of changes to the TUPE regulations in January 2014, there is now less protection for transferring staff.

Those of you who were here in 2009-2010 will know that UNISON opposed the privatisation of Support Services and wrote to all members informing them of the dangers of privatisation, which also included further services being transferred to Agilisys at some point in the future – the council are now looking at this. But we want to show them that money can be saved and changes can be made, while keeping jobs and services in house. We have already informed the council that in our view staff are more likely to get involved in the Transformation Programme if the council agree to no compulsory redundancies and no privatisations. We have also expressed our concerns to councillors and our new Chief Executive, and the recent publicity around the council’s attempt to hide the full detailed version of the KPMG report on the Agilisys contract has aided our case – you can read this report on the branch blog at http://www.northsomersetunison.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/100-million-support-services-contract.html

Although nothing has been confirmed yet, from the information we have so far, it is UNISON’s view that there are particular groups of staff who are potentially at immediate risk of redundancy or being transferred to Agilisys, because PWC have recommended that these areas could be rationalised and jobs made more generic with staff working across the whole council rather than for a particular team. The staff who are most at risk are:

· Business Support and Administration
· Frontline customer, financial and transactional services
· But practically anyone else could also be affected

In 2010 when staff were first transferred to Agilisys, many UNISON members did not get involved in our campaign to stop the privatisation of support services – as a result when councillors voted to approve the contract they thought that staff didn’t really care. This time UNISON members need to show the council that they do care.

The Transformation Programme also includes plans to share services with other councils – many teams could be affected by this and there is the potential for job losses. The Integration with Health is also likely to lead to job losses, especially if duplication of roles is found. We will keep members updated on this as and when more information becomes available.

UNISON want to show the council why transferring more jobs and services to Agilisys is a bad idea, and how we can transform services and make savings, while also keeping them in house - but we are working to a very tight timescale – in 2 months time (on 6th May) a report will be presented to the Council on the Transformation Programme, which will include a draft business case for staff transferring to Agilisys. So we need all our members to help fast.

Here’s what you can do.

We need all members, including managers, to tell us what you think, and in particular:

· Your concerns and questions about how your job and service will be affected by restructuring and transferring to Agilisys

· Your views on how your service could be transformed, while remaining in the council

· Your concerns and questions about transferring to Agilisys

We will collate members’ views and questions and put them to the council to get answers – no names will be mentioned

Send us an email to tell us what you think – we’ve set up a special consultation email address nsunison.consultation@gmail.com and you can email us from home if you’d prefer – just make sure you give us your name and what team and directorate you’re in – and again all correspondence will be kept confidential.

Come to a meeting to tell us what you think and keep coming to meetings to stay updated:

· 11th March at 12.30 pm  – Castlewood, room 1.08
· 27th March at 12.30pm – Town Hall, Kenn room
· 3rd April at 12.30 pm – Town Hall, Hutton suite
· 10th April at 12.30 pm - Castlewood room G08
· 16th April at 12.30 pm – Town Hall, Hutton suite
· 22nd April at 12.30 pm – Castlewood, room 1.08
· 30th April at 1.15 pm – Castlewood, room 1.08
· 1st May at 12.30 pm – Town Hall, Kenn room
· 6th May at 12.30 pm – Town Hall, Kenn room
· 6th May at 5.30 pm outside the Town Hall to lobby Council Meeting

Talk to your UNISON Rep or Workplace contact – their contact details can be found at: http://www.northsomersetunison.co.uk/stewards.htm

Become a workplace contact – we need one in every team so that we can keep you updated, and you can help with distributing publicity, representing members ideas for service improvement, consulting with members and passing on members concerns.

Invite UNISON to your team meeting

Get your colleagues and managers on board, and if they’re not UNISON members persuade them to join.

You can also keep up to date through social media:

Twitter: @nsunison

Facebook: search for North Somerset Unison

Support Services Contract - A Not So Short History

With the recent news that as part of North Somerset Council's Transformation Programme, they are looking to transfer more jobs and services into the £100 million, 10 year contract we've been looking back to our campaign to stop the privatisation of Support Services back in 2009 and 2010. So we thought as we didn't have the blog back then that it might make interesting reading for members now.

In April 2009, when the council were first looking to go down the outsourcing route we submitted a number of reports to the Executive, spoke at the meetings, and also commissioned a report from APSE. Our submission to the April Executive meeting slowed the process down, and forced them to bring another report to Executive in June. Here are our reports:

UNISON submission to Finance and Performance Policy and Scrutiny Panel, 20th April 2009

UNISON Report to Executive, 21st April 2009

UNISON Report to Executive, 9th June 2009

APSE Report on Support Services Outsourcing, June 2009

All the initial Council Reports are here:

Executive Report 28th October 2008: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc17783.htm

Executive Report, 21st April 2009: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc18695.pdf

Executive Report, 9th June 2009: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc18930.pdf

Audit Committee, 20th April 2009 minutes: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc18717.htm

We sent out a leaflet to all members and also covered the town hall in posters, and even had some support services privatisation mugs made. Here are the leaflet and posters:

Leaflet for Members - Quicker, Better, Cheaper

Poster - Quicker, Better, Cheaper In House

Poster - Slower, Worse, Dearer Privatised

We were also successful at getting the Executive decision called in to the Finance and Performance Policy and Scrutiny Panel on 2nd July 2009, and a UNISON Rep spoke at the panel - this slightly slowed down the process. The minutes are here: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc19029.htm

During the procurement process UNISON were given the opportunity to make comments on all the bids - we cannot publish them here for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

As we ramped up our campaign in the final stages our access to information was shut down.

We wrote to councillors on a number of occasions and also provided them with the following documents:

Think Twice - The Role of Elected Members in Commissioning

Chapter 10 of Hilary Wainwright & Matthew Little - Public Service Reform But Not As We Know It

Insourcing: A Guide to bringing Local Authority Service back in house

We ran regular members meetings, as well as keeping members updated by letter.

We also issued regular press releases and got quite a bit of media coverage.

Audit Committee Report, 25th May 2010, which considered the Audit Commission's report on Support Services Contract: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc20628.pdf

We spoke at the Audit Committee on 27th July 2010, and submitted the following report:

UNISON submission on Support Services Contract for Audit Committee, 27th July 2010

The Audit Committee minutes are here: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc20974.htm

Executive Report, 8th June 2010: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc20684.htm

When the council met to award the contract on 5th August 2010 we spoke at the meeting and submitted the following report:

UNISON submission on Support Services Contract Award for Council Meeting on 5th August 2010

Council Report, 5th August 2010: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc20986.htm

Letter to North Somerset councillors

We were successful in persuading opposition councillors to propose an amendment to slow the process down pending more scrutiny, but due to the massive Tory majority the contract was approved.

Minutes of the Council Meeting: http://apps.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc21007.htm

Since the contract was awarded and staff transferred to Agilisys we have not stopped our campaign.

One year into the contract we surveyed our members - those who had transferred and those that remained at the council - the results were published on this blog: http://northsomersetunison.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/unison-members-support-services-survey.html

We pushed the council to undertake a review of the contract one year in - this is good practice. The council employed KPMG to do the review, but then kept their report secret. We pursued this report through Freedom of Information, finally getting the full detailed report in January 2014 - this has been published on this blog: http://www.northsomersetunison.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/100-million-support-services-contract.html

Now that the council are looking to transfer further services we have written to all councillors and our Chief Executive to express our concerns.

UNISON members will soon be receiving a special edition of our regular newsletter outlining what is likely to happen, why we still oppose the privatisation of support services and how they can get involved in our campaign. Watch this space for more details.

Union demands ‘end to secrecy’ after council report battle

Great article from Becky Parker in the Weston Mercury - here it is in full:

‘MISTRUST’ and ‘lost credibility’ – this is how North Somerset Council’s contract with service provider Agilisys is described in a report the authority refused to make public.

Unison, the union for council and schools staff, eventually won its battle for access to the critical report after a year-long fight.

Agilisys took over council services including IT, human resources, payroll, facilities management, procurement, the contact centre and revenues and benefits, in 2010.

A review was carried out into the contract in early 2012 by KPMG, an advisory accounting firm.

Unison has been using Freedom of Information requests to try to get hold of the report, but the council handed over only an edited summary.

The union took the case to the UK Information Commissioner who, after a six-month investigation, ordered North Somerset to hand over the document.

The release of the report comes as the council negotiates with Agilisys over extending the contract and transferring more council jobs and services.

Among the dozens of recommendations, KPMG stresses a need to prevent further negative service impacts and rebuild confidence and regain the trust of council staff.

The report says: “The council has seen a number of benefits, from the introduction of the partnership such as job creation and a greater focus on business change as well as reduced costs for services.

“However, the aspects of the partnership which have not worked well, such as the quality of some transactional services, have resulted in officer mistrust and a lack of contractor and client team credibility.”

One recommendation is ‘to ensure the council is accurately paying for what it is getting from the contractor and receiving value for money’.

The council expected the contract to make procurement savings of £5million by 2014/15, but in fact by 2012/13 it saved just £740,000.

KPMG said: “Procurement has been identified as an area within the scope of the partnership that has significantly failed to deliver against expectations.

“It is unclear whether this is a result of unrealistic and inaccurate expectations at the outset or poor delivery.

“The council lacks a clear overview of the partnership and its overall performance.

“Roles and responsibilities are blurred and people are not sure what should be covered where – this is inefficient.”

North Somerset Unison spokesman Helen Thornton said: “We are concerned about the amount of money wasted by the council trying to bury the report, as well as the unsuccessful attempt to pursue the Information Commissioner to prevent its publication.

“We will be demanding an end to the culture of secrecy that has grown up around this contract.

“As for the Agilisys contract, Unison is more convinced than ever it was a big mistake and one we will be paying for, for years to come.”

North Somerset Council says it regularly reviews the performance of the contract and all the targets are currently being met.

It said: “On the whole the review was really positive, and highlighted some early areas of success and achievement. It also acknowledged there were a much smaller number of areas which could be further strengthened, and since the report was written these have been fully addressed.

“Every year we ask staff about their overall levels of satisfaction with working for the council, and the latest results show these satisfaction levels are the highest they’ve been since before the partnership began.

“We are currently in discussion with Agilisys regarding the potential to increase the scale of the services it provides on behalf of the council, where this represents value for money.”