Agenda item

The Assistant Director, Early Intervention and Prevention introduced the report which sought approval from the Committee to proceed with proposed restructure of the Library Service. Also in attendance were the Head of Libraries, Workforce and Community and the Libraries Manager.

The report follows on from approval granted by Full Council 4 April 2016 on ‘Barnet’s Future Library Service’.

The Committee were informed that the context of the report was about the overall library strategy which was seeking to make savings of about £2.2m whilst keep all 14 libraries open.

The Assistant Director highlighted the key significant changes which were around (i) the technology-enabled opening system – leading to an increase in the overall number of opening hours across the service and (ii) the reduction of staff from 114FTE to the proposed 63.9FTE.

The revised staffing structure was to reflect the changes to the library service revenue budget between 2016/17 and 2019/20.  The cost of the new structure was in line with this revised budget and was reduced by a total of £1.7m.  Implementing the new structure would enable the service to meet MTFS savings targets.

Close work had been undertaken with the unions to ensure staff were provided with the appropriate support. He clarified that it was still too early in the process to confirm exactly how many redundancies there would be but that the forecast was 20FTE – steps would be taken to try and reduce that number.

Clarification was sought on who in the proposed new structure would co-ordinate the relationship between the Council and the Partnership Libraries. The Libraries Manager confirmed that there would be two new roles - Library Community Engagement Officers - whose role would be to engage with the partnership libraries on day to day basis, provide training and the necessary support. With regards to contract monitoring that would be overseen by herself along with the Operations and Customer Services manager. She confirmed a training programme was in place and sessions would commence once the Library Community Engagement Officers posts were approved and recruited too and the Partnership Libraries confirmed.

Concern was around the risk of losing a lot of experience as part of the restructuring process and sought clarification on the cost or efficiency on staff travelling between libraries.

The Libraries Manager clarified that they wanted to ensure travel times were as short as possible and that this was factored into the opening hours to ensure staff this would not for example have lunch breaks impact on. As such library pairings were based up the upon the easiest travel routes between sites.

Clarification was sought on what was being done to support those members of staff who were at risk of redundancy.  

The Libraries Manager confirmed that a number of measures have been undertaken to support staff, including

·         Those at risk being placed on the redeployment register for LBB jobs and all available roles are circulated.

·         Barnet is part of a network of London libraries and any roles currently available in other London library services would be circulated to all at risk staff all

·         There is a dedicated HR Business partner for the restructure who has been working closely with staff, schools and partners to ensure any vacancies that become available are circulated. Advice has also been provided on an individual basis.

·         Staff have been given the opportunity to access support to prepare for submitting job applications and attending interviews/selection activities

·         Pension workshop for those who wanted to obtain pension advice.

·         A number of 1-1 sessions have been held with staff at risk of redundancy to discuss potential redeployment options.

Clarification was sought as to whether was November 2016 was correct with regards to the completion of the restructure selection process.

The Libraries Manager confirmed that there had been a couple of resignations which meant that the process had been slightly elongated because the vacancies created which had not been anticipated at time the report was written. She reported that most of the internal vacancies in the actual restructure had been filled and work was being undertaken with HR and those individuals who were unsuccessful to try and secure them employment. The final numbers of redundancy would not be known until the 31 March 3017. Regarding the voluntary redundancies she confirmed there had been 7.5FTE

Following discussion and consideration of the report, the Chairman moved to the recommendations. Votes were recorded as follows:

The recommendations were therefore carried and the Committee RESOLVED;

1.            That the General Functions Committee approve the proposed restructure of the council’s Library Service, including the deletion of existing posts and the creation of new posts, as set out in Appendices 1 to 3 of this report.

2.            That the General Functions Committee authorise the Assistant Director, Early Intervention and Prevention be authorised to take all necessary actions to put in place transitional arrangements for the continuity of business.