Meeting over

One Barnet sure is going to cause Delhi belly

As you know today was Crapita's meet the bidder day. The big unanswered question was where the services, provided by nearly 600 people, are to be provided from and whether that would be Bangalore, Barnet or Bolton (or anywhere else beginning with B - did you know there is a Cafe called Bastard in Cologne - Mr Mustard missed it when he was there on a conference but that may have been because he was busy trying to keep his motorcycle's wheels out of the tram tracks - he enjoyed the Top Gear challenge to get back to blighty before his colleague who flew home)

So what happened? There were two sessions today. 

At the first session Crapita claimed they couldn't say as the council had not stipulated any preference as to location. That means you can say because you are free to make your own Crapita choice. Duh.

At the second session the story had changed. Today has been a day of changing stories, perhaps like David Cameron the first story will be the dinner/location was private and 4 hours later it will all be all over the internet?

The second session story was that Crapita would be happy to reveal the location once it was determined. Mr Mustard does not think much of a potential supplier of a service using up to 600 people that has not yet firmed up a plan. Capita, to give them their due, did realise how unacceptable it was to keep staff on tenterhooks until the decision was made as to who the winning bidder was.

However, HR intervened in the form of Jennifer Burt. Now Mr Mustard does not know if Ms Burt is a regular employee or a Town Hall Tax Dodger or an Agilisys/iMPOWER consultant ( he is checking ) or part of the Peterborough HR mafia but the fact that HR feel the need for a controlling presence at a Meet the Bidder session indicates to him a certain lack of confidence in the validity of One Barnet. Staff should be free to Meet the Bidder without any presence of officialdom otherwise an open and frank dialogue cannot take place.

The HR line was that the work location will not be revealed until there is only one bidder remaining. Ms Burt vetoed any further questions on location and that being the main question of the staff the meeting came to an abrupt halt. Not what one would call a raging success. One would think that Capita were not that amused either as they will have to work with the hacked-off staff who remain.

The only conclusion that a logical person can draw is that Capita have decided upon an out of borough location and they are prepared to share this with the staff but Barnet Council are terrified of the truth. This extends the uncertainty for nearly 600 people and is a disgusting way to treat loyal staff. 

Ms Burt will sod off back to Stokie afterwards thinking she has done a good job when it has been diabolical.

Mr Mustard will be back soon with bloggers revenge (copyright Mrs Angry) and that makes Delhi Belly look like a minor upset.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard