This is the first Unison update about the progress of the business administration service review, part of the Council’s “efficiency savings” aiming at saving £1.75 million per year.
As the consultation period has not yet started, we don’t have much information, however here are a few important bits of information we have at present, and things you can do to keep informed:
- The Unison lead for the review will be John Shepherd (John.Shepherd@camden.gov.uk, x3972); also involved are Vinothan Sangarapillai, Aysha Ali and George Binette (contact details all on Outlook) so direct any queries, comments or concerns to them.
- Please send a quick email to John if you are in scope for the review so you can be added to the union’s email distribution list, if you have not been getting the updates.
- 223 posts are in scope for the review.
- A saving of £1.75 million per year may equate to 30-50 job cuts, but it should be borne in mind that some posts will be vacant, so that does not mean that there will need to be compulsory redundancies necessarily.
- Formal consultation begins on Tuesday 25 February and will last for one month. There will be a premeeting between management and the union on 24 February.
- We will be holding meetings for all members in scope of the review at the beginning and end of the consultation period, so members can have their say and we can decide on a collective response. The provisional times for these meetings are:
- Wednesday 5 March at 3:30 PM in the council chamber of the town hall
- Wednesday 19 March at 1:30 PM in the council chamber of the town hall
- Paid time off to attend these meetings has been requested. We would encourage nonmembers to attend as well and join at the meeting.
- This review is aiming at centralising the business admin service into one central team, which will be formed around three areas: 1. support to directorates, 2. data protection and FOI and 3. support to meetings. It is a long-term concern that this centralisation could be a prelude to shared services with other boroughs or privatisation further down the line.
- So far, a Unison rep noticed an admin position in CSF going out to advert. We have now raised this with management, arguing that recruitment should be frozen so that the post is available for a potential redeployee, and are currently awaiting a response.
- Pass this information on to colleagues, and encourage non-members in scope to join Unison. The more of us there are the stronger a position will be in to defend jobs and prevent pay cuts.
- If you want to support your colleagues further through this change, why not consider becoming a shop steward? Talk to John or your convenor for more information.
- See http://camdenunison.org.uk/tag/admin for updates.