Contingency plans in place to support adults with learning disabilities during possible strike in Do

Company news

Feb 24, 2014

The company confirmed that, despite the Council’s need to reduce the cost of the service, no redundancies are planned, the basic pay of all staff within the service is bring protected, and all staff transferring to Care UK will continue to be members of the valuable NHS final salary pension scheme.

Managers at the service have put in place robust contingency plans to ensure that the service will be both safe and high quality during any action, and that the people it supports will, as much as possible, be able to carry on as normal.

Less than half the workforce are in the union and, with help from managers and colleagues from nearby services, the provider is confident that all essential shifts will be covered and that service users will be kept safe and able to continue to enjoy day to day activities.

Director of Care UK’s learning disability service, Chris Hindle said: “We are sorry that Unison has decided to take this unnecessary and regrettable step which is clearly intended to disrupt a service on which vulnerable people depend.”

“From the outset, the council made it very clear that whichever provider was chosen to deliver this service would have to reduce spend as well as improve the service.”

Chris continued: “We have done our best to meet the Unions more than half way. We have not made anyone redundant, our proposal does not touch people’s basic pay and we have already protected future annual pay increments and secured NHS future final salary pension rights for everyone transferring to Care UK in this service.  Striking will not bring any more money from Doncaster Council so we all have to work together to find a way forward.”

Under the proposals which Unison has rejected, Care UK is proposing to review the rates and opportunities for things like working evenings or weekends, bringing paid annual holiday levels, which, for some people, are currently close to seven weeks on top of public holidays, and sick pay into line with what is more normal for this sector.  As well as protecting basic pay and jobs, it is also offering the Doncaster team financial assistance through a transitional arrangement which compensates employees for any change in earnings for a whole year.

Care UK runs modern community-based learning disability services which are structured around the needs and wishes of the people they support - not services based on traditional and institutionalised practices. Managers of the Doncaster service are hopeful that on-going talks will bring about a resolution and that a strike can be avoided. 

Chris Hindle concluded: “When the contract to run this service was put out to tender, Doncaster Council indicated that the future provider would have to run the service on a much tighter budget as the council’s finances are under such pressure. The outgoing provider of this service told employees early last year that the substantial savings which had to be made would inevitably have some impact on terms and conditions. We’ve protected jobs, basic pay and pensions but there isn’t enough money in the pot to leave things as they were.  We have no alternative but to make some changes to bring the service more into line with what is seen elsewhere in this sector.”

Care UK has written to the families and friends of all those using the service to explain its contingency plans and to reassure them that no staff within the service face redundancy, reductions in basic pay or changes to pensions.