Havant council workers' fears for jobs rise after vote
Union leaders have expressed fears over jobs at Havant Borough Council as plans to privatise services were given the go-ahead last night.
Councillors voted to hand over the running of its customer services department to private profit-making firm, Capita.
They also extended the company's contract to run the revenue and benefits section by eight years.
And four other council epartments – IT, human resources, finance, and asset management – could also eventually be handed over to the firm.
The council expects to save almost 1m over eight years.
But Mike Wilson, from Unison, believes jobs may have to go to make those savings.
He said: 'Capita have their foot in the door.
'Whilst we don't expect any job cuts in the near future Capita's business model is based upon efficiencies from two sources.
'The first is reducing the cost of the terms and conditions of the employees by replacing anyone that leaves or is promoted by new people with inferior contracts.
'They will deliver services to a range of customers from different sites so staff in Havant may do work for Capita customers in Yorkshire or Southampton.'
The News and members of the public were banned from last night's three-hour debate, after a vote by councillors.
However members of the customer services team were allowed to stay.
Afterwards one staff member said they felt as if they had been 'sold down the river.'
Earlier this week an 870-name petition was handed in to the council by Labour Party activists calling for a public consultation on the issue.
This month a scrutiny board – made up of back-bench councillors from all parties – rejected plans to pass services to Capita, instead requesting officers look into sharing services with Hampshire County Council.
But this was ignored by the full council last night.
Labour leader Terry Hart said: 'I cannot believe a 10-month long investigation by the scrutiny board has been dismissed like that.
'We fought tooth and nail in there tonight and I think the council has let down the customer service team.'
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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