Every vote cast rejected the council's six-month offer, UNISON says. It now wants a formal strike ballot, and talks with the council are set for 14 September.

Not one Barnet bin worker or street cleaner voted to accept the council’s holiday pay offer. That is the result Barnet UNISON published on 18 August.

The union says the vote was a consultative ballot and gives two figures for it:

  • Bin workers: 96% turnout, 100% voting to reject
  • Street cleansing workers: 66% turnout, 100% voting to reject

The offer on the table is six months of backdated holiday pay. The union says the underpayment goes back to 2014 in many cases.

UNISON now says it is seeking a formal industrial action ballot. Under the law, only a statutory postal ballot can authorise a strike. The vote just published does not, and no strike dates exist.

What happens next

Two dates are now fixed, both from the union’s statements:

  • Monday 14 September: a Joint Negotiating and Consultative Group meeting between the council and the union. UNISON says it will press the council on its questions there.
  • Tuesday 1 September to Tuesday 13 October: a separate postal ballot for UNISON members at The Barnet Group, covering Barnet Homes and Your Choice Barnet, announced on 20 August. That one is about pay and pensions, not holiday pay, and would affect council housing repairs and adult social care rather than bins.

Timeline of the Barnet holiday pay dispute: the consultative ballot opened on 5 August, the 100% rejection was published on 18 August, The Barnet Group ballot opens on 1 September, council and union meet on 14 September, and The Barnet Group ballot closes on 13 October

The union has written to the council’s chief executive and, separately, to the council leader, Barry Rawlings, asking for urgent talks and for the leader to intervene personally.

The questions UNISON has put to the council

The union’s release lists what it wants answered. It says the public would reasonably expect the same:

  • why correct holiday pay only began once a new payroll contractor took over in 2025
  • whether the council knew about the failure before then
  • whether a full investigation has taken place
  • whether Capita, the former payroll contractor, has been asked to account for it
  • whether the council has considered recovering the loss from Capita
  • what evidence supports six months as an appropriate settlement

UNISON’s statement said: “This result couldn’t be clearer. Not a single member who voted backed the council’s offer. We’ve asked the council for urgent talks, we’d much rather resolve this at the table than take it further.”

It went on: “If the council keeps standing behind Capita instead of doing right by the workers who kept this borough running, residents need to understand where that leads: a strike this autumn, bins left uncollected, and fly-tipping piling up across Barnet.”

How we got here

We reported the ballot on 18 August. The short version, all of it the union’s account:

  • The law changed in 2012 so regular overtime counts towards holiday pay.
  • UNISON says Barnet did not apply that for depot staff who regularly worked overtime.
  • The error surfaced in April 2025, when payslips changed after Liberata replaced Capita on the council’s payroll contract.
  • The union puts the full liability at about £6 million and the council’s offer at £250,000, or six months at 8.33% of non-contractual overtime.

The union’s 31 July notice described the vote that opened on 5 August as a ballot for industrial action. Its 18 August release describes the same vote as consultative, with the statutory ballot still to come. We have reported the union’s later description.

The council’s side

We still cannot give it. On 25 August, www.barnet.gov.uk returned an automated block page to us, as it has on every visit since 18 August. The council’s committee website, barnet.moderngov.co.uk, was reachable today for the first time in a fortnight, but a search of its published documents for “holiday pay” returned nothing. We have not seen the council’s own calculation, its reasons for a six-month offer, or any reply to the union. Every figure above is UNISON’s.

What it means for you

Nothing changes on your street yet. In order, what has to happen before a bin is missed:

  1. UNISON opens a statutory postal ballot for depot, bin and street cleansing staff. It has not announced a date.
  2. Members vote yes, and the union serves the council formal notice of strike dates.
  3. Only then do collections change.

The 14 September meeting is the point to watch. If it produces an improved offer, the ballot may never open. If it does not, the union has said a strike “as early as this autumn” is possible.

Our Barnet bin collection days page carries the normal schedule and the council’s own address checker, which is where any revised arrangements would appear first. Council tax pays for the service; see Barnet council tax bands for what each band pays this year.

Sources

Related: Barnet bin collection days and Barnet council tax bands.