VIGIL to support the ONE BARNET legal challenge
Tuesday 19th March, 9.30am
Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand, London, WC2A 2ll.
Please join us outside the Royal Courts of Justice to show solidarity and support with disabled Barnet resident Maria Nash who is challenging Barnet Council’s decision to outsource a large group of public services without properly consulting Barnet residents.
Barnet Council is effectively selling off their public services to Capita, a private company in a single contract for a minimum of 10 years, putting the quality of services at risk as profit becomes the over-riding priority. Under the proposals customer services will for example be delivered from call centres in other parts of the UK that won’t have local knowledge or connections. There are many concerns about the impact on the local economy, about risks that the promised savings will not materialise leading to further cuts to services, about the ability of the council to accurately and properly monitor services once outsourced, and about the loss of democracy the entire procedure represents.
We are already seeing the failure of the One Barnet programme as staff working with disabled people through the ‘Your Choice Barnet’ trading company are having their terms and conditions slashed because the enterprise has not delivered the profits it was forecast to. This is what happens when profit is put before people yet Barnet Council is pressing ahead with its plans.
What is happening in Barnet is important to all of us because where Barnet leads in selling off our services other local authorities will follow.
For more information about what is happening in Barnet go to: http://barnetalliance.org/
For information about the vigil please contact: barnetalliance4publicservices@gmail.com 07534-407703
