Unison has released the following Media Statement in respect of a strike ballot taking place for staff working on the Selby District Council leisure contract in North Yorkshire.

MEDIA STATEMENT

~ PRESS RELEASE ~

UNISON is escalating its opposition to plans by Harrogate Borough Council to transfer staff, who work in its Information Governance and Internal Audit services to Veritau, rather than the new North Yorkshire Council.  The issue now involves not only the Harrogate Branch of UNISON but also the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Office of UNISON, based in Leeds.

This comes as both Harrogate Borough Council and County Council refuse to take responsibility for the decision to transfer the staff to Veritau at this late stage and without any formal consultation yet underway.

Speaking for UNISON at Harrogate Branch Secretary Dave Houlgate said:

“In December UNISON received a letter from the Chief Executive of the new North Yorkshire Council, categorically stating that any decision around where staff would transfer to was up to the sovereign Council – in this case Harrogate – and that the expectation was that staff would transfer to the new Council. Indeed staff have received a communication only yesterday (23^rd January) from the new Chief Executive saying that they will transfer to North Yorkshire Council on 1^st April.” 

Mr Houlgate added:

“Following the lodging of our Dispute last week, which will be heard on Thursday (26^th January), the Borough Council has come back to us to say that it was not their decision but that of North Yorkshire County Council using its transition/ implementation powers.  We have asked for some more detail around this but the upshot is that no one seems to want to take any responsibility for the decision.  That cannot be right.  This is incredibly stressful for staff who all along have had an expectation they would transfer to North Yorkshire Council.  This late change is unfair and is unacceptable.” 

“We can reveal that in August last year, following concerns raised by UNISON, the staff were reassured by the Borough Council that they would be transferring to North Yorkshire Council on 1^st April 2023.  It remains our belief that the decision is ultimately with the Borough Council and that the Council should stand by what it has previously told its staff.”

“Understandably we are pursuing this with both Councils, seeking clarity around decision-making, accountability, oversight and where the duty to engage with staff and UNISON actually rests.”

“We will, if necessary escalate our Dispute to Harrogate Council’s Human Resources committee and we have already tabled a public question for the Borough Council’s Overview and Scrutiny committee, that is scheduled to meet on 6^th February to discuss Local Government Reorganisation.”

~ ENDS ~

Note:

Harrogate does not have a full Council meeting scheduled until March which prevents any public questions being asked at full Council until then, which will be too late.

Veritau is a shared service group owned by local authorities in Yorkshire and north east England.

Some staff at Craven District Council are also set to transfer to Veritau.

David Houlgate            

Secretary        

Harrogate Local Government Branch – UNISON

Harrogate Borough Council

Level 7

Harrogate Convention Centre

Kings Road

Harrogate

HG1 5LA

Tel: 01423 556109

Email: unison.branchsecretary@harrogate.gov.uk

UNISON HBC intranet site

I’m a Harrogate Borough Council Wellbeing Champion and Listening Ear volunteer.

As the time approaches for the new North Yorkshire Council to come in to being on 1^st of April, public service union UNISON is dismayed to learn that there are plans not to TUPE transfer all Harrogate Borough Council staff to the new authority but to switch them to Veritau, a shared service group owned by local authorities in Yorkshire and north east England.

PRESS RELEASE

Speaking for UNISON, Harrogate Branch Secretary Dave Houlgate said:

“Staff and UNISON have engaged with the TUPE process for well over a year now and our expectation and the expectation of all staff is that they will transfer to the new North Yorkshire Council on 1^st April on their existing terms and conditions but with the opportunity to move on to new terms and conditions at the new Council, which UNISON has negotiated.

It would seem, however, that the current County Council has decided at this very late stage, it does not want Harrogate Borough Council staff who work in the area associated with Audit services to transfer to the new Council but instead has decided that they should transfer to a separate company, Veritau.  UNISON opposes this move.

UNISON has been in discussions with representatives from all the Councils involved with Local Government Re-organisation for over a year and this option has never been on the agenda, even though we had raised it as a concern early in the process.  There has never been any indication prior to this ‘late hour’ decision that staff would not transfer to North Yorkshire Council. We are dismayed by this development.

Whilst we are aware that both the current North Yorkshire County Council and Veritau want staff to transfer directly to Veritau, ultimately we hold Harrogate Borough Council responsible as it is their decision to make and not the County Council’s.  On this basis, we have lodged a formal Dispute with the Borough Council.

Indeed we have had written confirmation from the new Chief Executive at North Yorkshire Council, Richard Flinton, that the decision is one for the sovereign Council, in this case Harrogate Borough Council, to determine where their staff transfer to. It should be noted that there is no benefit to Harrogate Borough Council by this decision.  

Our position is clear, we object in the strongest terms to this late change of plan which shows total disregard for the staff involved, denies them the opportunity to move on to new terms and conditions negotiated and agreed by UNISON and ignores established procedures and protocols that are in place.  Staff in Audit services at Harrogate should, as they expect to do, transfer to the new authority and then if there is a need to review how audit services are delivered for the new Council then the proper processes should be followed after the transfer.

Our expectation was that Harrogate Borough Council would stand by it staff and should resist this late change rather than give it the ‘green light’. Our Dispute is intended to ensure this happens.

~ END ~

• – an “In My View” article by NIGEL WARD, commenting on Council Staff Christmas Bonuses in the run-up to Unitary.

~~~~~

Some readers may, like me, have endured the experience of moving into a new home only to discover that the previous occupants have taken with them everything portable – from light bulbs to doormat to residual toilet roll – leaving the cupboard, so to speak, completely and unwelcomingly bare.

As we approach the abolition of Scarborough Borough Council (and the six other District/Borough Councils of North Yorkshire), members of the public are right to ask what will happen to the cash in the coffers of the soon-to-be defunct local authorities. Some readers have enquired as to whether SBC is likely to avoid passing on more to North Yorkshire Council than it has to. Is SBC determined to spend, spend, spend, leaving the cupboard bare?

A local government contact in the Borough of Harrogate has kindly updated me on a generous humanitarian gesture enacted by the ‘powers that be’ at Richmondshire District Council.

At a meeting of the Harrogate Branch of UNISON, the local government workers’ union Branch Secretary, Mr David HOULGATE, informed members (as confirmed in the attached Briefing Note) as follows:

° Cost of Living crisis – DH circulated details of UNISON’s Energy Support Fund Phase 2 on 15th November.

Richmondshire District Council is to give all staff a £350 bonus for Christmas to help with cost of living. Total cost, with on-costs, is £93k so just below the £100k cap that would have had to go to NYCC for section 24 approval. DH discussed with CEX at regular meeting on 16th November and it as made clear no plans to do similar here at Harrogate.

[My highlighting in bold]

So, Harrogate Borough Council has no plans to provide similar assistance to its work force. No light is shed on the intentions of Scarborough Borough Council.

Granted that Scarborough Borough Council carries a far larger staff roster (over 500) than Richmondshire District Council (around 250), I wonder whether Scarborough will be providing its workers with a Christmas Bonus (albeit, commensurately smaller) to alleviate the cost of living crisis – say £175 – which would enable the Council, like Richmondshire, to stay below the £100K threshold (above which, NYCC could block the payments under the s.24 regulation)?

Or will Scarborough, like Harrogate, pass on every penny to NYC? Answers on a P45.

But let us not be hasty. Scarborough Borough Council is the only North Yorkshire bastion of local government to be blessed with a Labour administration.

According to Google, “the Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists”. It is the party of the working man (and woman).

So perhaps we can rely on SBC Leader Councillor Steve SIDDONS, ably assisted by lifetime trade unionist Councillor Tony RANDERSON, to help the Council’s workers (whom they are ever eager to praise) with a Christmas Bonus to assist with the cost of living crisis.

How could they not?