Unison raises dispute with Harrogate council after five staff told they won’t transfer to new council

A trade union has opened a dispute with Harrogate Borough Council after five staff at the local authority were told they will not transfer to the new North Yorkshire Council after all.

Harrogate Borough Council will be abolished on April 1 and it was thought all staff except chief executive Wallace Sampson would transfer to the successor authority under TUPE terms.

But Unison said it was “dismayed” to discover five audit services staff had recently discovered they would transfer to Veritau, a shared service group owned by local authorities in Yorkshire and north-east England.

Unison Harrogate branch secretary Dave Houlgate said the staff would switch to Veritau on “detrimental” terms to those who will transfer to North Yorkshire Council.

Mr Houlgate said:

“Staff and Unison have engaged with the TUPE process for well over a year now and our expectation and the expectation of all staff is that they will transfer to the new North Yorkshire Council on April 1 on their existing terms and conditions but with the opportunity to move on to new terms and conditions at the new council, which Unison has negotiated.

“It would seem, however, that the current county council has decided at this very late stage it does not want Harrogate Borough Council staff who work in the area associated with audit services to transfer to the new council but instead has decided that they should transfer to a separate company, Veritau.  Unison opposes this move.”

Our #Harrogate branch has lodged a formal dispute with Harrogate Borough Council after it emerges not all staff will be offered the opportunity to transfer to the new #NorthYorkshire council when the councils come together on 1 April#LocalGov @unisonyh https://t.co/gQt7z5SHxJ

— North Yorkshire UNISON (@NYUnison) January 16, 2023

 

Mr Houlgate said the option of staff not being offered the chance to TUPE to North Yorkshire Council “has never been on the agenda, even though we had raised it as a concern early in the process” and the union was “dismayed by this development”.

He said although North Yorkshire County Council and Veritau wanted staff to transfer directly to Veritau, it was ultimately Harrogate Borough Council’s decision.

“We object in the strongest terms to this late change of plan which shows total disregard for the staff involved, denies them the opportunity to move on to new terms and conditions negotiated and agreed by Unison and ignores established procedures and protocols that are in place.

“Staff in audit services at Harrogate should, as they expect to do, transfer to the new authority and then if there is a need to review how audit services are delivered for the new council then the proper processes should be followed after the transfer.

“Our expectation was that Harrogate Borough Council would stand by its staff and should resist this late change rather than give it the ‘green light’. Our dispute is intended to ensure this happens.”

The Stray Ferret has approached Harrogate Borough Council for comment.

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Harrogate council accounts to be signed off after months of delays

The annual audit of Harrogate Borough Council’s accounts for 2020/21 is set to finally be signed off after months of delays.

Accountancy firm Mazars was due to receive draft financial statements from the council by a deadline of last July, but this did not happen until three months later on October 25.

The delays were blamed on the impacts of the pandemic, local government reorganisation and the launch of the council’s new leisure company.

Mazars senior manager Diane Harold presented an audit completion report to councillors last night when she said the majority of councils across the country had missed a further deadline for publishing their accounts in full.

Speaking at a meeting of Harrogate Borough Council’s audit and governance committee, she said: 

“The statutory deadline was the end of November – and the majority of local authorities unfortunately did not achieve that so Harrogate was not alone.

“I would like to highlight the significant cooperation from management that I have had, and the pressures that they have faced.

“That is not to take away from the fact that this is now March, but to recognise there has been a lot of effort to get to this stage.”

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Ms Harold added the accounts should now be signed off by Mazars “this week or next at the latest”.

Risks highlighted

The audit completion report from the firm details a number of areas which have been highlighted as risks, including “errors” and “inconsistencies” in the council’s valuation of its property and equipment.

The report also said there is a risk that the council’s 2021/22 accounts will not be approved before the authority is replaced by the new North Yorkshire Council in April 2023.

The report added: 

“We have had the full cooperation of management, however, there have been continued delays in responding to queries, in particular in October and November 2021, due to pressures on officers arising from multiple factors, including the impact of the pandemic, local government reorganisation and also the new leisure company.

“Based on arrangements in place for the 2020/21 audit, there is a risk that the 2021/22 financial statements will not be approved by 31 March 2023 i.e. before local government reorganisation.”