UNISON, the UK’s largest union, is calling for an urgent inquiry into privatisation, as a new report* reveals serious flaws in the way public sector contracts are sold off and run. Private companies are frequently putting their shareholders first and cutting corners at the taxpayer’s expense, finds the report.
This is the latest exposé in a long line detailing dangerous failings of outsourcing and privatisation that prove the process to be at best a waste of taxpayer’s money and at worst a risk to their health.
This time last year, Britain risked international embarrassment when private company G4S failed to recruit and train sufficient security personnel to keep the Olympics safe. Despite these serious failings, the company initially still expected to get paid in full for their unfulfilled contract. The same company is now under investigation for potentially charging the government for tagged criminals who were dead. A man being deported by G4S was recently found to have been unlawfully killed.
The recent growth in private company involvement in healthcare has already lead to serious failings. Private out of hours provider Harmoni was found last year to have just one advanced nurse practitioner providing out of hours GP cover to up to 250,000 patients. In London earlier this year a baby died after receiving inadequate treatment at an out of hours GP centre run by the same company.
In 2011, the health of thousands of elderly people was put at risk as care home company Southern Cross collapsed, after undergoing a sale and leaseback process to release huge sums to its parent private equity firm.
A recent UNISON report into the water industry found that since privatisation, bills had risen more than three times the rate of inflation, customer satisfaction had fallen whilst profits and dividends paid to shareholders had skyrocketed.
In home care, privatisation has been synonymous with falling standards that are putting elderly people at risk on a daily basis.
The report, like others before it, also raises serious concerns about the ability of the public sector to act as a rigorous contractor and to properly scrutinise contracts.
UNISON is calling for an immediate halt to pending privatisation and outsourcing deals, to allow for a forensic review in the interest of taxpayers and service users.
Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:
“Outsourcing and privatisation is failing taxpayers and those forced to rely on privately provided public services. At best the process is a waste of taxpayer’s precious funds, and at worst it poses a threat to people’s health.
“Meanwhile it is boom time for private companies. Public sector contracts are a lucrative option, and beholden to shareholders as they are, profits always come first, even if corners have to be cut.
“We have real fears that the public sector does not have the necessary skills to be a rigorous contractor. Small, underfunded teams can be easily hoodwinked by private companies and the huge sums they spend setting up teams to bid for and to win contracts.
“Recent scandals of privatisation have exposed serious, potentially fraudulent and often dangerous failings. How much more has to go wrong before the government takes action?
“UNISON is calling for an immediate halt to pending privatisation and outsourcing deals to allow for an independent and immediate Inquiry, putting the interests of the public as services users and taxpayers first.”
Notes: *New report from the Institute for Government (IfG). ENDS