Date: Friday 22 May 2015

UNISON warning over public services in Stirling and Clacks 

Council staff have grave concerns about the future of public services in Stirling and Clackmannanshire, says UNISON.

UNISON will present a report to senior managers in both Stirling and Clackmannanshire Councils today which raise grave concerns about plans to run Clackmannanshire's education services from Stirling, and Stirling's social care services from Clackmannanshire.

UNISON’s report is based on a survey of 331 staff from both councils. Staff were asked to give their views on what is being called ‘lead council model’ for shared services between Clackmannanshire and Stirling Councils. The proposals being considered would mean that education for both councils would be run by Stirling Council and social care services for both councils would be run by Clackmannanshire Council.

Staff who were surveyed said that these new proposals will result in a ‘poorer service with potential for serious consequences’ that services will ‘continue to deteriorate’ and some staff even suggested that if these plans go ahead it will be an ‘unmitigated disaster’.

Staff also said there will be increased confusion saying, ‘how will you know where to find out if you qualify for a service’; ‘people will be confused over who provides their services’; and ‘they will be confused over where to go if you have any problems’. Staff also said they would be confused about ‘which policies to follow from which council’

Pam Robertson, UNISON secretary for Clackmannanshire branch, said “This report shows that council staff views are clear. They think these proposals will cause confusion for the public, that services will be less accountable to the public, and that local jobs will be lost. Council services are complicated enough to navigate and many of the people we serve are vulnerable and in need of care. They will not cope well with a change like this."

Lorraine Thomson, UNISON Secretary for Stirling local government branch, said: “Our two councils work very well together already. Staff welcome joint working where it improves our services to the public. But we have looked across the world to see where this type of reform has been tried before and the concerns raised by our staff are exactly what has happened elsewhere. It creates confusion, has no accountability, local jobs are lost and it ends up costing council tax payers more for worse quality services.”

Lorraine also said “We want to discuss how we improve all our services by working together, but in this case we just have to persuade elected councillors not to make a bad decision.”

This staff survey report was handed to the Chief Executive Officers of both Stirling and Clackmannanshire councils today, it is also being circulated to all MP's, MSP's and Councillors who represent our constituencies.

END

Notes for editor

1. UNISON is the public service union for the UK. It is the biggest trade union in Scotland and the biggest trade union representing local government staff in both Clackmannanshire and Stirling Councils

2. The full report can be read on UNISON Stirling branch website here: http://www.stirlingunison.co.uk/ 

3. The full report can also be read on UNISON Clackmannanshire Branch website here: http://www.clacksunison.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Shared-Services-Survey-Final-Report-May-2015.pdf

4. The report was carried out because UNISON was concerned about the lack of staff engagement that Ernst & Young had undertaken as part of their work on the business case for the Shared Services project. UNISON implemented a full and detailed staff survey to find out what front line staff really thought about the Shared Services project so far, and what their thoughts were for the future.

Contacts 

Pam Robertson, branch secretary UNISON Clackmannanshire: 07971 851 465, 01259 722282
Lorraine Thomson branch secretary UNISON Stirling: 07826 903 559, 01786 443440
David O’Connor, UNISON regional organiser:  07958 121 861

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