Depot, bin and street cleaning staff have been voting since 5 August. UNISON says 12 years of holiday pay is owed, about £6m, and that the council has offered £250,000.

Barnet’s bin crews, street cleaners and depot staff have been voting on strike action since 5 August. The ballot was called by Barnet UNISON over holiday pay the union says has been calculated wrongly for more than twelve years.

The union’s own newsletter to members sets out who is covered: depot workers in waste and recycling, street cleansing, grounds maintenance, fleet and other services who regularly work overtime. Ballot papers went to home addresses. The union told members to contact the branch if nothing arrived by 8 August. No closing date or result has been published.

If members vote yes, UNISON says it will be “in a position to take industrial action, including strike action if necessary”.

The dispute

The law changed in 2012 so that regular non-contractual overtime has to be counted when holiday pay is worked out. The union says Barnet did not do that, and kept not doing it for over twelve years.

Barnet UNISON’s account of how it got here, from its press release of 16 July and its members’ newsletter:

  • 2012: the law changes. Regular overtime must be included in holiday pay.
  • 2013 to 2024: the union says it raised the issue repeatedly and nothing changed.
  • 2024: UNISON submits a formal claim for affected members.
  • Early 2025: the union says the council admitted liability but offered six months.
  • July 2026: UNISON rejects the offer and moves to a ballot.

The union says the problem only surfaced in April 2025, when depot workers noticed unfamiliar payments on their payslips. Liberata had just taken over the council’s payroll contract from Capita, which had run it since October 2013. Workers took the payslips to the union and asked what the new payments were.

The money, as the union states it

The offer on the table is six months of backdated pay, at 8.33% of non-contractual overtime.

UNISON published worked examples for two depot roles. A Grade B loader, it says, is owed roughly £9,600 across the twelve years and would receive about £400. A Grade F driver would be owed roughly £14,400 and receive about £600. The union is explicit that these are examples built on real overtime earnings, and that individual amounts vary with how much overtime someone actually worked.

Across all affected council staff, the union puts the full twelve-year liability at about £6 million on the council’s own methodology, against an offer of £250,000. It calls that “roughly 4p for every £1 owed”.

Bar chart of Barnet UNISON's worked examples: a Grade B loader said to be owed about 9,600 pounds over twelve years against an offer of about 400 pounds, and a Grade F driver about 14,400 pounds against about 600 pounds, with a total liability the union puts at about 6 million pounds against an offer of 250,000 pounds

Every figure above is the union’s. We could not obtain Barnet Council’s response. The council’s website and its committee system both returned automated block pages to us on 18 August, so we have not been able to read any statement it may have made. We have not seen the council’s own calculation, its reasons for the six-month offer, or any reply to the union’s characterisation of it. Read these numbers as one side of a live dispute.

The union says the underpayment reaches beyond the depots, naming waste and recycling, street cleansing, grounds maintenance, libraries, social care and other services.

A second dispute, at the council’s own company

Separately, UNISON is preparing two more formal ballots covering workers at The Barnet Group, the company wholly owned by the council. One would cover Barnet Homes, which runs housing services. The other would cover Your Choice Barnet, which provides adult social care.

Consultative ballots there returned 100% of Barnet Homes members and 97% of Your Choice Barnet members in favour of industrial action, the union said on 17 July. Those claims cover a pay rise including a £15-an-hour minimum, movement towards council-standard terms and conditions, and access to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

The union said it registered a failure to agree after a special JNCC meeting at which, it says, The Barnet Group confirmed it was not willing to negotiate on any part of the claims.

Helen Davies, Barnet UNISON branch chair, said in that statement: “Housing and care workers are angry, organised and no longer prepared to accept second-class treatment. TBG has rejected every part of the claim and has now refused to negotiate, even after hearing that members are ready to take action.” The union noted at the time that industrial action had not been authorised or called.

What it means for you

Nothing has changed on your street yet. A ballot is a vote on whether members are willing to act, not a strike date, and no result has been published.

What to watch for, in order:

  1. The ballot result for depot, bin and street cleaning staff.
  2. Whether UNISON then serves notice of specific strike dates on the council.
  3. Only then, changes to collections.

If it does reach that point, the services in the firing line are the ones most people notice fastest: household and recycling collections, street sweeping and grounds maintenance. Our Barnet bin collection days page carries the normal schedule and the council’s own checker, which is where any revised arrangements would appear first.

The Barnet Group ballots are at an earlier stage again, and would affect council housing repairs and adult social care rather than bins.

Sources

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