Somerset County UNISON Branch

2006 Pay Scales

Welcome to Somerset County UNISON

Local Government Pay Claim 2009
visit our Pay Campaign page for latest pay campaign news
Local government pay talks
(18/05/09) UNISON's Heather Wakefield, with the GMB's Brian Strutton and UNITE's Peter Allenson show what the employer's offer is worth to low-paid staff Local government trade unions representing 1.3m staff - UNISON, GMB and UNITE - are meeting local government employers to negotiate pay today More from UNISON

Union leaders oppose '3p an hour' pay offer for council staff
(18/05/09 Unison, the GMB and Unite said a 0.5% offer by employers on behalf of local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would increase the pay of 150,000 workers by 3p an hour.More from 24Dash.com

Local government unions condemn 'mean' pay offer
(08/04/2009) Local government unions have warned employers that the 0.5% pay offer for England, Wales and Northern Ireland is totally unacceptable, and it called on them to open meaningful negotiations as a matter of urgency.More from UNISON

Local government employers offer just 0.5%
(07/04/09) Local government unions expressed bitter disappointment yesterday at a 0.5% pay offer by the Local Government Employers. More from UNISON

Making Local Services Count
The government is proposing major changes to local services - changes will affect almost all UNISON members.While aiming to increase participation and improve the co-ordination of local services, the recent white paper also signals a rapid acceleration in the marketisation of council services and in efficiency cuts.UNISON is campaigning to strengthen local democracy, support high quality, publicly-provided services and defend our members' interests.

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Latest News

Bridgwater Against the BNP- 'HOPE NOT HATE'
(14/05/09) Anti Fascist and anti racist campaigners met at Unity House to officially respond to the decision by the BNP to stand in Bridgwater for the first time and the outcome was the launch of 'Bridgwater Against the BNP-HOPE NOT HATE' campaign. Read their press release

Gaza - 'It's time to stand up'
(09/01/09) General secretary Dave Prentis has added his voice to the condemnation of renewed Israeli attacks on Gaza and called on UNISON members and the public to join the national demonstration in London tomorrow. More from UNISON

Prentis warns against privatisation sales pitch
(08/01/09) These are challenging times for public services, but public sector commissioners need to be very careful about falling for the promises of the outsourcing industry. More from UNISON

UNISON offers support to Palestinians
(07/01/09) UNISON has followed up its statement condemning the violence in Gaza with a £10,000 donation to Medical Aid for Palestinians' Gaza appeal, and is urging its regions and branches to do the same. More from UNISON

End Gaza violence
(05/01/08) Thousands of people have marched through cities up and down the country to protest against the Israeli air strikes and attacks in Gaza that have resulted in hundreds of Palestinian civilian deaths and casualties. More from UNISON

UNISON Urged to Lodge Appeal Against ET Ruling
(12/12/08 Dexter Whitfield, Director of the European Services Strategy Unit, writes to urge UNISON South West to lodge an appeal into the 'special circumstances' that made the council unable to consult with UNISON. Read his letter in full

SCOOP! ET finds Council Failed to Consult
(12/12/08) Read our December Employment Tribunal News Special! More from the Branch

UNISON Statement to County Consultative Conference
(09/12/08) More from the Branch

UNISON Sets the Record Straight
(02/12/08) Following the misleading news releases regarding the Employment Tribunal outcome, the Branch has issued the following press release.More from the Branch

Message to members regarding the Employment Tribunal
(26/11/08) and recent communications from the CEO which contain certain innaccuracies. More from the Branch

Deterioration of Industrial Relations at SCC
(25/11/08) Following the recent deterioration in Industrial Relations here at SCC, the following motion was agreed at tonight's Branch Council. More from the Branch

Employment Tribunal - UNISON vs SCC and TDBC
(24/11/08) We now have the full Employment Tribunal ruling which should be read alongside our solicitor's key findings

Industrial Relations at Somerset County Council
(20/11/08) Open letter from Regional Secretary, Ian Ducat, regarding the current state of industrial relations at SCC. More from UNISON Southwest

Suspension of Branch Secretary by SCC
(18/11/08) Letter to Stewards and members regarding the recent suspension of the Branch Secretary by the Council. More from the Branch

Southwest One - Branch Policy
(13/11/08) The Branch held an emergency Branch Council today and the following motion was proposed and carried. More from the Branch

UNISON calls on government to fund council houses
(13/11/08) Cash-strapped councils need money to make sure they can provide people with decent homes, says UNISON. More from UNISON

Latest Branch Newsletter - the past months have been very busy for the branch, please read our Summer & Autumn Newsletter for details including our ongoing work with Southwest One.

For more news, visit our News page

Southwest One
War of Words
(21/11/08) A war of words is raging between senior politicians in Somerset. The row over a controversial £400m deal has got dirty. More from the BBC

Councillors should learn how Southwest One works
(19/11/08) The Audit Commission says that Somerset councillors must improve their understanding of the county's £400m joint venture scheme More from Kable

SAP Costs & Queries
(27/10/08) For details of who owns SAP, a breakdown of costs including year on year revenue costs, please read more from the branch Page one and Page two

Freedom of Information Request
(06/10/08) Latest FoI request regarding changes to Southwest One's Staffing Agreement and requesting access to clauses in the wider contract that the staffing agreement refers to. Read more

Reply to Freedom of Inormation Request
(19/09/08) In repsonse to our FoI requests dated 18/08/08 (see below) we have received the following FoI Reply from the Corporate Director of Resources.

UNISON shines spotlight on Murky World of the Public Services Industry
(18/09/08) The seismic shift towards private companies providing public services is exposing the Government and taxpayers to enormous financial risks, warns UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector union today (18 September). The union is calling on the Government to ditch its fair-weather friendsin big business and call a halt to damaging privatisation. Read UNISON Press Release

Request for Information - Southwest One and vote for union recognition
(12/09/08) The Branch asks whether the Independent Chair has been appointed and the arrangements regarding the company's forthcoming vote on trade union recognition. read more

Request to see the hourly and daily rate charges for SWO staff
(18/08/08) Requuest to see the rate charges that SWO uses, also whether SWO will be having it's own Publication Scheme read more

Respect to inspect SWO/ISiS Full Business Case and Benefits Realisation Plan
(18/08/08) Please read our request to Legal Services for the above documentsread more

Request for information regarding documents to external auditors
(18/08/08) Please read our questions regarding documents and whether the auditors and client side have had access to them read more

Request to inspect SW1/ISiS 2007/08 Accounts
(08/08/08) Today the Branch has asked to see the last financial years accounts relating to SW1/ISiS Further details

Council chief denies failure to consult union over IBM deal
(04/08/08) Somerset County Council's HR chief has rubbished union claims that he failed to consult them fully before signing a controversial shared services deal with IBM. More from Personnel Today

Plain speaking on outsourcing
(01/08/08) We report this week on two ground-breaking local government outsourcing developments: Somerset's "South West One", behind which stands IBM, and Westminster City Council's declaration that it will be free of IT infrastructure by 2015. More from ComputerWeekly.com

Somerset County Council: Audit of the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2008
(30/07/08) Reply from the Audit Commission to our letters of the 21st and 22nd July Read more

Somerset partnership investigated
(31/07/08) Somerset CC's ground-breaking shared services venture with IBM faces new questions over its legality amid rising concern about secrecy.More from Local Government Chronicle

UNISON calls for Audit Commission Report into IBM Project
(25/07/08) �The government need to learn from their mistakes with PFI and avoid wasting millions of pounds of public money on inflexible contracts with the private sector. These projects are not a golden bullet for public sector reform, but allow big businesses to cream off profits made from taxpayers� cash. UNISON Press Release

SAP user group condemns increase in support costs
(25/07/08) SAP has triggered a backlash over increasing the cost of software support for its customers by nearly 30%. The UK & Ireland SAP Users Group condemned the change in the business software company's maintenance contracts. More from ComputerWeekly.com

Shrouded in Secrecy - The Somerset Public/ Private Partnership
(23/07/08) UNISON has worked closely with ITV�s West Eye View to expose the truth about the secrecy behind the public/ private partnership with three public bodies and IBM. More from UNISON Southwest

IBM seeks to stop council divulging �400m contract details
(23/07/08) BM, the world's largest IT services company, has sought to stop Somerset County Council from divulging important contract details on a £400m outsourcing deal. More from ComputerWeekly.com & related article

Letter from Branch to Audit Commission regarding SCC legal advice
(22/07/08) Further letter to the District Auditor read more

Continuing Concerns regarding Southwest One
(21/07/08) Letter to Audit Commission

999 call centre 'to proceed'
(19/07/08) THE man behind the implementation of a new 999 fire call centre in Taunton has said he fully backs the project - even though it won't make the projected financial savings. More from Somerset County Gazette

Freedom of Information - Avon & Somerset Police Authority
(17/07/08) Further to UNISON FoI requests in March this year, the following documents have been released, please note that a some of these have been redacted (edited) with the grounds for this explained in the covering letter from ASC to Malcolm Wing (UNISON). The following documents relating to the Business Case have been received:
ASC Redacted Business Case
ASC Business Case for SAP Back Office
ASC Business Case - Accommodation Strategy
ASC Business Case - Contact Management
ASC Business Case for Locality based Service Delivery
ASC Business Case for Procurement Transformation (Redaction)
ASC Freedom Of Information Appeals Procedure

A Few Questions for Audit & Resources Sub-Committee
A Few Questions for Audir & Resources Sub-Committee
(11/07/08) Today the branch submitted a number of questions regarding commercial confidentiality of SWOne and the recent Information Commissioners ruling around FoI requests to Mid Suffolk District Council. Read more

Questions to Scrutiny Committee
(09/06/08) Including questions about Pioneer Somerset and concerns around the lack of Union recognition for staff directly employed by Southwest One further details

Union adds to questions over county council partnership
(30/05/08) UNISON has joined Bridgwater & West Somerset MP, Ian Liddell-Grainger in publicly questioning The secrecy behind SCC's mlti-million pound partnership with computer giant IBM More from West Somerset Free Press

Response to our request to see the Benefits Realisation Plan
(29/05/08) Please read the letter from SCC, a document from the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and Southwest One's Benefit Realisation Plan. Further to this, the branch has written a letter to the Audit Commission

More on Southwest One

The West This Week - 27th November 2008
Following the Employment Tribunal Decision, Branch Officers and Cllr Crabb appeared on ITV's 'The West this Week'. To view the programme - please visit http://www.itvlocal.com/west/programmes/?player=WST_Prog_15&void=263515

Latest Branch Newsletter
Scoop! December ET News Special

UNISON South West Regional Council - October 2008
The Branch has submitted the following motions to South West Regional Council
People Before Profit (also see http://peoplebeforeprofit.wordpress.com/ for more info)
Campaign to Oppose Private Social Work Practices

Public Service, Private Gain
West Eye View Thursday 24th July 7:30pm - ITV1 (ITV1 West): The controversy over whether the taking over of local council and police services in the west of England by American computer company IBM is for public service or private profit. Narrated by James Garrett. Missed this programme? Watch online at www.itvlocal.com/west/ and read Press Release from West Eye View

Car Allowances
Offer of 45 pence per mile from September 08
(08/08/08) Further to our claim for an increased mileage allowance, SCC have offered an 2.5 pence increase to the basic mileage allowance Further details

Local Government Strike Threat Over Fuel Costs
(17/06/08) Delegates at UNISON�s local government conference have threatened strike action if employers do not increase mileage rates. Raed UNISON press release

(16/06/08) 'Eyewatering' increases in the cost of petrol mean that council staff who drive their cars for work are now subsidising their employers. The impact on UNISON members is devastating, said the union's local government reps at their conference today, calling for immediate action to resolve what they termed a crisis. More from UNISON

Tribute to Howard 'Andy' Andrews, war veteran and peace campaigner, dies age 101, please read tribute by Dave Chapple and Ken Keable.
"Alas I cannot be with you for the Funeral
Andy's Life will remain to inspire future generations, as it has my generation for his readiness to give his all for justice and democracy" - Tony Benn, 15th May 2008

Annual Branch Report

New from the ESSU, Public Sector Research ONLINE
provides detailed guidance on how to research and investigate public policy, public services, the economy, government, companies, consultants, trusts, organisations and individuals. It is intended to provide a service to those involved in public policy making, public sector research, public employees, service users, trade unions, community and civil society organisations. It has a major role in public sector education and training. Visit http://www.european-services-strategy.org.uk/psro/

Public Services Not Private Profit
www.publicnotprivate.org.uk
is a joint union campaign launched in March 2006 to defend public services against privatisation.

Billions of pounds of public funds are being wasted boosting the profits of private companies who are downgrading services and slashing conditions and jobs for public sector workers. This increased trend towards privatisation puts at risk the accountable and effective delivery of public services.

Related topic: Local Government White Paper