Mass redundancies as Capita takes over - Press release from Barnet Alliance (BAPS)

In a move that will dismay the community and distress the many individuals and families directly affected, Capita today announced its plans to relocate council services around the UK, making mass redundancies inevitable. Jobs lost to Barnet will go to Belfast and Bromley, Chippenham and Chertsey, Carlisle and Darwen, Sheffield and Swindon.

Barnet Alliance spokesperson Barbara Jacobson says: ‘This is just what the Barnet Alliance feared when it campaigned for the consultation that was unlawfully denied to Barnet residents. What Capita describes as “driving towards Barnet plc and a successful London suburb” completely ignores the facts that the people losing their jobs are part of the community, that the community is not a  public limited company, and that Barnet was a successful London suburb before the takeover. ‘

People who move to retain their job might feel compelled to do so despite the fact that their children’s schooling will be disrupted, they will have to move away from close family members and friends to an area where they have no connections, they might find it difficult to sell their home or find appropriate new accommodation, and they face a future of lower income and pension contributions.

The people who are made redundant because they cannot afford to uproot their families for these reasons will suffer the stress of finding new employment in the depressed labour market. If they remain unemployed, the money they would have spent in the community is lost, affecting local businesses. If they eventually need to receive benefits, they will suffer more hardship and not only will the state have to pay those benefits but the council will also lose their contribution to council tax.

No one wins, except Capita, who will employ cheaper labour elsewhere and cream off millions of pounds in profit at the expense of hard-working people and the local community, as it has been revealed they have done in Birmingham. Instead of ‘a successful London suburb’, Barnet will become an increasingly depressed area of angry and resentful residents. 

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