{"id":16255,"date":"2018-09-21T15:16:25","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T14:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=16255"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:13","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:13","slug":"trusts-snub-nhs-improvement-wholly-owned-subsidiaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=16255","title":{"rendered":"‘Get a grip’ call"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Bosses of two separate NHS trusts, which are facing strike action next week, have defied guidance from NHS Improvement to pause the creation of new wholly owned subsidiaries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite yesterday (September 20) declared a significant victory in the fight against NHS privatisation after NHS Improvement announced trusts should pause any plans to create new wholly owned subsidiaries designed to avoid paying tax.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NHS Improvement, a body that oversees trusts, said it would be consulting on a new approach and would then issue guidance to trusts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But now today (September 21) both York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust have confirmed that they still intend to push forward with plans to transfer estates and maintenance staff to new subsidiaries despite NHS Improvement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite national officer Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe slammed bosses of the two trusts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese acts of defiance by these two trusts seriously undermine the credibility of NHS Improvement and, ultimately, do not reflect well on the health and social care secretary Matt Hancock who needs to get a grip of the situation,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNHS Improvement will be seen as a toothless tiger if trusts treat its directives with contempt, as appears to be the case at East Kent and York.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite officers from both York and East Kent said that their local trusts had confirmed they were going ahead with their wholly owned subsidiary plans.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a snub to NHS Improvement with its influential national remit,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite lead officer for health in Yorkshire Chris Daly of the trust in York.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe trust has been without a permanent chief executive since May and this may explain some of the poor decision making currently taking place,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added, as he made clear that there was still \u00e2\u20ac\u015btime for the trust to row back from its ill-considered proposal to transfer staff out of the NHS \u00e2\u20ac\u0098family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and so avoid strike action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite regional officer for the Kent trust Michael Cott likewise criticised trust bosses, saying that their decision is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bvery disappointing and flies in the face of the sensible advice from NHS Improvement.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VAT loophole<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unite has long waged a battle against wholly owned subsidiaries, which involve transferring part of the workforce to a private arms-length company set up, owned and run by individual trusts. Setting up subsidiaries has stoked fears over possible \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Carillion-style\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 meltdowns that could lead to job losses and the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098salami-slicing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of service provision.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is strong evidence where wholly owned subsidiaries have been set up that once staff are transferred to the private limited company, new employees are not given access to the NHS pension scheme and are offered inferior Agenda for Change terms and conditions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Jarrett-Thorpe explained.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is where these companies seek to make savings, by short changing hard working staff,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite believes NHS trusts are motivated to set up wholly owned subsidiaries so that they can register for VAT exemption and compete on a level-playing field with commercial competitors who register for VAT exemption for their work in the NHS, when NHS trusts can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Unite has called for HMRC to close this loophole.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before NHS Improvement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s statement yesterday (September 20), Unite has successfully challenged the setting up of several wholly owned subsidiaries through industrial action and community campaigning. In July, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust backed down after staff downed tools with the support of the local community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Local campaigns<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Most recently, Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust dropped plans to set up a wholly owned subsidiary, which followed other NHS Trusts, including Leicester, Mid York, Leeds and North Bristol, similarly abandoning proposals to transfer staff to subsidiaries.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn each instance, local campaigns brought together staff and the community to declare that the NHS means a NHS for all and calling out wholly owned subsidiaries for what they are – backdoor NHS privatisation masquerading as an exercise in financial efficiency,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Jarrett-Thorpe noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the fight against wholly owned subsidiaries is far from over as staff from both York Hospital and East Kent trusts gear up for two separate walkouts next week.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last week in York, Unite teamed up with Unison and community campaigners in a protest ahead of next week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strike<\/a> at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, with the support of local politicians.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clifton Ward Labour councillor Danny Myers wrote a letter to the local York Press<\/em><\/a> backing the strikers and urging York Hospital Trust to reconsider their plans.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A two-tier workforce resulting from a wholly owned subsidiary, Myers wrote, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bleads to lower productivity and lower morale.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhy would a hospital take such a risk with the delivery of our healthcare?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he asked.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLabour demands an end to the tax loophole that allows NHS Trusts to reduce their VAT bill by taking hundreds of support staff off the NHS payroll.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Myers urged the Trust to \u00e2\u20ac\u015btake a leaf out of the book of Wigan Hospital who also proposed this type of outsourcing but reversed their decision when it was clear that staff and public opposed such a move.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moratorium call<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In a letter this week to NHS Improvement chief executive Ian Dalton, Jarrett-Thorpe also reiterated Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demand that HMRC close the tax loophole that is prompting so many Trusts to set up wholly owned subsidiaries.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He put forward Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call for NHS Improvement, on behalf of the health secretary Matt Hancock to place a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmoratorium on the further establishment of private limited companies by NHS trusts in England, even with trusts that have gained board approval.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But in the meantime the fight against backdoor NHS privatisation goes on \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there are already 40 announced or already up-and-running wholly owned subsidiaries in the health service.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite says we must call time on wholly-owned subsidiaries specifically and NHS privatisation generally,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Jarrett-Thorpe said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNHS means NHS.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bosses of two separate NHS trusts, which are facing strike action next week, have defied guidance from NHS Improvement to pause the creation of new wholly owned subsidiaries.   Unite yesterday (September 20) declared a significant victory in the fight against NHS privatisation after NHS Improvement announced trusts should pause any plans to create new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[81,977],"wps_subtitle":"Trusts snub NHS Improvement guidance on wholly owned subsidiaries","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16255"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25866,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16255\/revisions\/25866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}