Media coverage: Capita contract

There has been wide media coverage of the WSCC decision to insource parts of its Capita contract. Unsurprisingly, the failure of Carillion has piqued editors’ interest in the West Sussex Capita contract, which has been in difficulty since day one. Capita itself has issued profit warnings, similar to Carillion.

We first covered the insourcing in Branch Lines and on our website.

Our Branch Secretary Dan Sartin featured throughout the morning on BBC Radio Sussex. The main interview starts from 1:11:30 and is still on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05rsy7d

There was also extensive coverage throughout the West Sussex county press. See one example, the Worthing Herald.

And we were delighted to see the story featured on BBC South Today. This is no longer available on the BBC Iplayer, but we include screen shots below. Branch Secretary Dan Sartin said that difficulties with the Capita contract could not be laid at the door of staff: it was the Capita business model which was to blame, and results in high staff turnover due to poor terms and conditions for new starters. UNISON reps will be raising this with Capita management to see what can be done about the pay and pensions of new starters.

The branch is still in dispute with Capita. We are also supporting members through the TUPE transfer back to the council.