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www.surreycountyunison.org.uk

organise!


30-day Consultation Begins!
But what are the choices for staff in Surrey
Choices?

After a long lead up over the past 8 months or so the Surrey County Council Local Authority Trading
Company (LATC) proposal reaches a critical stage.

The 30-day formal TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) consultation begins
now. This gives everyone the chance to see and hear in detail the proposals to transfer the service
(and your job) over to the newly-established company, Surrey Choices. There is now a period for
SCC to consider the feedback via the co-design process with the aim of transferring staff on 27 July
and going live from 18 August 2014 (dates subject to alteration).

Our role in UNISON is to represent YOU the members, by bringing together your views and
responses to the LATC at the various workplaces and projects. We will write up a full formal response
to SCC at the end of the 30-day period. So far, we know there are a wide range of views and
opinions on the LATC. Some members are quite happy to give some new ideas a chance, feeling
frustrated with the way things have been run in recent times. The majority, however, feel anxious and
worried about what this all means for them not necessarily at the start but further down the line.
People feel that, although some concerns have been addressed many remain to be answered. Some
members feel cynical and powerless that after many years of good service, working hard on behalf of
SCC and service users, they are being cast off into the unknown as part of some grand experiment.
Many members have still to make up their mind whether the LATC transfer is a good thing or a
backward step.

Background

UNISON is nationally and locally THE UNION for all social care employees. We have over 300,000
members working in social care. We have over 600 in SCC Adults Social Care and the majority of
union members in scope in this transfer are in UNISON. This is a good starting point and can provide
a powerful voice to your views.

Do not underestimate the value of having a locally elected UNISON Rep or contact at your workplace
especially at a time like this. Some members have already come forward to get active and help in
this thank you.

The coalition governments austerity plans are clearly ideological. They want to roll back the state, to
cut public services and the welfare state to a basic minimum. This deficit reduction strategy has
UNISON LATC Newsletter 2 SUMMER 2014
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seen shifting public money and resources to the private sector through privatisation, with no evidence
of better services resulting in fact, quite the opposite! Local government in England has faced
repeated cuts in central government grant year-on-year since 2010 and already 450,000 jobs have
been lost in English councils alone since then. UNISON members continue to carry out more and
more work on ever-diminishing pay in real terms.

UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis (pictured) said earlier this year:

We have only one priority, to protect our members and the services they provide. We
need to stay strong, our members are going through traumas.

Dave was speaking at a senior UNISON forum, having heard an exhaustive report of
the impact of the austerity agenda across all the unions.

This austerity agenda, promoted by the government, is leading a number of local authorities (SCC
included) to think about new service delivery methods such as co-ops, mutuals, social enterprises
and LATCs. Many are jumping on this bandwagon hoping it will be a quick-fix to their budget
problems. UNISON says: If its not in-house then it is out-house. If a service can be delivered
cheaper by a private or voluntary sector company, this can only be done by cutting costs most often
those associated with staffing, pay, terms and conditions. It also means the council has a smaller and
smaller direct workforce as it seeks to commission its services (including legal duties) via an
outsourced and ever-fragmented social care workforce.

What is happening locally?

Since the beginning of the year we have seen two very important and experienced figures move on
from Surreys Adult Social Care directorate Sarah Mitchell and Graham Wilkin. UNISON believe
that this is a significant loss to the management team which has yet to be replaced. The Adults
Directorate Savings Plan has already saved 86m since 2010-13 but it is proposed that another
105m will be cut by 2017/18.

In April we attended one of our regular updates with HR and senior managers. We were informed
that this years savings target (2014/15) is set at 42m. This is to be achieved by a number of
methods, including continued changes to procurement and commissioning and through new ways of
working. The expectation is that the LATC project will save the council money one of the key
drivers of the Learning Disabilities Public Value Review. The idea that the LATC (Surrey Choices)
can provide a better service and do it cheaper for SCC (which would be a win-win according to the
council) is a huge ask.

TUPE

TUPE regulations are a protection for employees, where the business they work for changes hands.
In 2006 the Labour Government incorporated European law into TUPE. This year saw the current
government try to change TUPE and lessen the burden on the new employer. For the LATC transfer
proposal most of the TUPE regulations still apply. There is a lot of jargon such as: sender (SCC);
receiver (Surrey Choices); the measures (TUPE document & transfer proposal) and due diligence
(Making sure all employee details, records etc. are correct).

The run-up to this consultation has seen SCC/Surrey Choices working hard to reassure staff that the
transfer will be as like-for-like as possible, that you wont tell the difference, have the same
pensions etc. But, like any TUPE, the longer that time passes the more possible (and likely) that
circumstances will change and that the new employer will seek (through consultation) variations to
contracts, terms and conditions.
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Staff are Raring to Go?!

We are told by SCC that many of you are really keen on the LATC
But you have voiced some concerns to UNISON such as:

What happens if it all goes wrong? What is the exit strategy?
Do we come back to work in Surrey or get taken over by yet
another employer? Or could we be made redundant?

Will my pay and pension be the same? Why will new starters be on a different pension? What
will happen to my pay in the future?

Could my hours change? Will the new company want to extend core business hours?
Weekends? Evenings? What about my social and family life?

Will we be trying to make a profit out of our work with service users?

What if personal budgets do not cover the cost of our new services? If people have less
money generally and decide to cut down on social care costs (or find cheaper alternatives) will
this put our business at risk?

Will this project mean more safeguarding alerts? Could the quality of day care, training,
support levels etc. be reduced to cut costs?

What about sheltered or supported employment projects? Do they sit well within the LATC?
How can you charge people for employment?

These questions and many more need careful consideration and good, honest answers before any
transfer can take place. Some of you have said that Simon Lakers personal commitment and drive
for this project has convinced you.

So far, at our various liaison meetings on your behalf with SCC/Surrey Choices it has been
acknowledged that staff have mixed feelings and that the venture is not without risk. They believe
they can reduce the risks with a robust and realistic business plan. They say they want to empower
frontline staff through the LATC, with more freedom for innovation and more responsibility. They say
there will be contractual stability alongside the council for three years. Simon Laker and Omar Mehtar
very much believe that Surrey Choices can work for staff and service users.

UNISON do not doubt Surrey Choices commitment and we do not believe that all in the garden is
rosy with PLD services in Surrey as they are. We have seen years of underinvestment and a steady
decline in the use of day services which means that some kind of change is necessary despite the
hard work and commitment of staff. Many services are understaffed, leading to large groups in some
Day Centres and a reliance on agency staff.





An LATC Captain? Is that
logical?
It is social care Jim, but
not as we know it!
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What do UNISON think?

It is not as simple as saying that the services should stay as they are or to oppose change for its own
sake but is the LATC the best, safest and most effective way forward for staff and service users?
There are examples of attempts at LATCs elsewhere which have not been successful and not
delivering on what was promised. In principle, we believe that all services should be provided in-
house by publicly accountable bodies, with appropriate investment in staffing, training and resources.
We are not convinced that outsourcing to a LATC or in any other form is the answer to the difficulties
going forward. We want to know your views as they are now. Please complete the ballot on the back
page and return to UNISON by 30 June. This is not an industrial action ballot purely a consultative
ballot so we can tell SCC how our members are thinking on the issue of transferring to the LATC.

A message from the Branch Secretary, Paul Couchman (pictured):

I have worked with people with learning disabilities and in day services for many
years. It is my firm belief that these services are essential to the well-being and
personal development of service users. I support the drive towards independence
and personal fulfilment of service users and I am a champion of person-centred
planning. The real problem here is that there is just not enough money being
invested by governments or councils to provide the kind of service we need.
Setting up a new company will not solve this. The funding for good, well resourced services where
staff are properly rewarded still needs to come from somewhere. I would prefer to see a concerted
campaign for more funding from central government than seeing our day services effectively sold off.
I would recommend a NO vote in this ballot but also ask you to get involved with UNISON and help
create a better future for you, your families and the service users you work with.




------------------------------------------------cut here------------------------------------------------------------------------

UNISON BALLOT ON THE TRANSFER OF
SERVICES FROM SCC TO SURREY CHOICES

I agree with the LATC transfer proposal



I do not agree with the LATC transfer proposal and would prefer the service to
remain with SCC.


Comments







Please return in the prepaid envelope provided by 30 June.