ANOTHER row has broken out at Penketh Parish Council after UNISON was asked to investigate staff pay concerns and redundancy fears at Penketh Pool and Community Centre.
While independent Cllr Geoff Fellows is accusing the Labour-controlled Parish Council of having a “poor relationship” with staff members and failing to budget properly for the future of the pool, the controlling Labour group have hit back – accusing Cllr Fellows, who runs a swimming club at the premises of “self-interest” and being part of a “bullying atmosphere prevalent at Penketh Parish Council by the Independents.”
Cllr Fellows says Staff members have contacted Unison for advice regarding employment issues with Penketh Parish Council (operating as Kingfisher Leisure Services).
Jason Horan, secretary of the Warrington branch, has written to the clerk to the parish council and the three Penketh borough councillors: Cllr Linda Dirir, Cllr Geoff Fellows and Cllr David Keane on two matters.
Mr Horan has been told that most of the staff employed by KLS were furloughed in March 2020 as a result of the pandemic on the understanding that any difference in pay would be made up by the parish council. However, though they were awarded 80% of their pay, the extra 20% was not forthcoming despite the fact the parish receives a precept, a large portion of which goes towards staff wages.
On a separate issue, Mr Horan was advised that staff have received letters seeking expressions of interest in voluntary redundancies. He has asked for clarification on this with assurances that the parish council is seeking to ensure continued employment for staff once the pool and centre is allowed to reopen following the lifting of lockdown restrictions.
In response to this email, Cllr Geoff Fellows, in his capacity as a parish councillor, issued the following statement.
“Cllr Ray McKay, Chairman of Penketh Parish Council, has assumed full responsibility for employment matters by dealing with the current pool manager, making decisions without consulting all eleven councillors who make up the management committee of Kingfisher Leisure. In doing so he is making himself personally liable for any outcomes as he has refused, during the lockdown, to hold management meetings.
“From the outset, I have had serious concerns regarding the use of the furlough scheme due to the fact that employees of Penketh Parish Council are paid in part from the precept and I have learnt that other nearby parish councils have paid their staff in full from their own precept funds without having to take advantage of the generous government support during periods of enforced closure. I feel that the government retention scheme has been abused due to the fact our pool and community hall could have reopened in line with the other local facilities in July and again in November. While leisure centres, libraries and other public spaces reopened, Penketh Parish Council employees were maintained on furlough, even though the reason for this was not Covid related. Health and safety issues were given as a reason for the continued closure, though no details have been given to all parish councillors. Indeed none of the Independent parish councillors have been consulted on decisions during the lockdowns and requests for more information have been denied. I feel that the abuse of the government scheme has penalised our employees, depriving them of the opportunity for overtime and shift allowances, leading to a considerably lower monthly income. ‘
Cllr Fellows added: “I have contacted one of the employees affected who has confirmed that they have received a letter asking for interest in voluntary redundancy. I was not aware that letters of this nature were to be sent out and to my knowledge the parish has no business model that incorporates a change of this nature. I am alarmed that a business that needs lifeguards and swimming teachers in order to operate safely on a daily basis should even consider making such employees redundant at this time as the lockdown is temporary and a full staff will be necessary once the pool is fully operational, hopefully in the near future. I feel such actions will lead to further criticism of Penketh Parish Council. Employees of the parish council have been let down on a number of occasions but as a minority voter on the council (a position enforced by the self-styled ‘controlling group’ of Labour councillors) I am not in a position to encourage better relations with the staff.
“With regard to the poor relationship between Penketh Parish Council and some staff members, I would like to comment on an HR issue which was raised in August 2019 involving allegations of bullying, pay discrimination and equal opportunities. The parish council enlisted the help of CHALC, and the services of Jackie Weaver, at the start of this but I and the other Independent councillors have been unable to discover if it has been resolved.
“I find the behaviour of the ‘controlling group’ of Labour councillors very surprising, indeed, disappointing, as many of them are, or have been, union members. In these uncertain times job insecurity adds extra pressure to our employees’ well being and mental health. I feel the staff at the pool have been failed by the parish council through a lack of advice, updates and support.
“Decisions have also been made on the rate of Parish Precept, with the council choosing not to increase it for both of the last two years. This raises questions as to whether these decisions have been purely political ones and how it looks to the electorate, rather than based on the detail of what funds are required for the Parish Council to function successfully. This is against a backdrop of mounting issues that the Council needs to tackle, such as Health and Safety issues, Plant equipment upgrades and loss of income due to Covid-19, none of which appear to have been properly budgeted for.
Cllr Fellows concluded: “I will write to Mrs Burey, clerk to the council to ask her to calculate the pay required to rectify the discrepancies but I feel that as she is still quite inexperienced and as far as I know, because the position was not advertised and no formal interview process followed, has no qualification essential for such a post, this issue may not be considered important enough to be brought to a full council meeting, the next one being the second Wednesday in March. I feel that far too many issues have been ‘swept under the carpet’ by the ‘controlling group’ so I would urge Jason Horan to pursue his enquiries and give his members the help and support they deserve.”
The team at the centre currently consists of; Assistant manager, Duty officer, three cashiers, one cleaner 3-4 lifeguards/centre assistants and one swimming teacher. There is currently a vacancy for a general manager.
It is understood LiveWire was brought in last year to carry out a review of the facility which raised various concerns of health and safety issues at the pool which s funded by the parish precept paid for by local taxpayers.
In response to Cllr Fellows comments a statement from the Labour-controlled Parish Council said: “Cllr Geoff Fellows runs a private business from the pool alongside another swimming club he runs (subsidised by the Council ). He has felt threatened by the recent Peer Review for the pool and plans to restructure where it is becoming evident that his business may be affected. There is clearly a vested interest in this vexatious complaint he has lodged. His motive is clear that if he can remove the Parish Council he can maintain his very lucrative business.
“We should point out that the Chairman, Cllr Mackay has not assumed full responsibility for all employment matters- This is ludicrous !! It is unclear exactly which decisions Cllr Fellows is alluding to?, Management meetings do not MAKE decisions they can only RECOMMEND to full Council for the ultimate decision making. As we were having Zoom meetings anyway all issues regarding the pool are discussed at Council meeting held every month.
“We may remind everyone that the whole country has been through an economic crisis whilst in this Pandemic and many of the employed population who were furloughed are on 80% salary. If it had not been for the Furlough scheme it is likely redundancies would have been necessary. This was the best all-round option for all of the staff. We discussed this issue many times at Council and it was in fact Cllr Craig Lenihan (Independent) who advised us we qualified for the Furlough scheme after he did his own extensive research. It seems very strange that Cllr Fellows feels the Penketh pool staff are entitled to a further 20% when he is aware the Pool runs at a £120k loss each year. His business is a contributing factor to this loss.
“Penketh pool is a very small site, with small changing rooms. Having carried out an assessment after the first lockdown was lifted it was not deemed safe to be able to manage social distancing unless a 1 in 1 out policy was adopted. This was not commercially viable. Coupled with this issue the Parish Council decided to use the time it was closed to carry out a review of the repairs needed. We as a Council find it very irresponsible that Cllr Fellows organised a mass gathering of families and children outside the pool in a protest during the Pandemic to demand it was opened. We are aware his business must have been suffering during its closure but this is no excuse to put the public at risk in a Pandemic simply to boost his own personal income.
The Peer Review identified that we need to address the £120k subsidy that the Parish pays to the pool every year. It established that Penketh pool should not have such a large loss each year when it was compared to similar pools. This is taxpayers money and we have an obligation to save money for the Parish Council where possible. Cllr Fellows takes many of the prime slots (evenings and weekends) with his private business and it has been suggested that if this was not the case then the pool could run its own lessons and generate a significant income. This would reduce the precept contribution considerably and make the pool much more economically viable. It is very evident Cllr Fellows feels concerned for his own business interests with this plan that is ultimately in the public interest.
“Another consideration was that it would make more business sense if staff became more adaptable to the wide range of skills within the pool so that they could be utilised more efficiently. This is how many successful businesses run. We also plan to open it for longer hours ( including Sundays ) and for 50 weeks a year. We have no plans to force any redundancies at the moment but felt it would be sensible to enquire if anyone did not want to take on new roles or hours then they could opt to take voluntary redundancy. Letters have been sent to all members of staff informing them of the re-structuring of Kingfisher Leisure, they did not solely discuss voluntary redundancy as has been insinuated! This current business model is unsustainable, the letters were the first steps in which to include the staff in the plans, ideas and recommendations in the Peer Review which was accepted and agreed at our meeting of 10th June 2020
“As for criticising our Clerk publicly, it is at best disrespectful and at worst a further indication of the bullying atmosphere which is prevalent at Penketh Parish Council by the Independents.
“Our Clerk and Pool manager have suffered with workplace bullying since they started and it is clear that this email from Cllr Fellows follows suit with further criticism of our Clerk who, whilst she is new has taken to the role brilliantly and is already very skilled at what she does. It has come to light that the Clerk is actually in communication with her Union about this bullying as it is hugely affecting her. She has placed a grievance in against Cllr Fellows and two others three weeks ago. This allegation (with the undermining yet again of the Clerk) will add to the case against him. As a Council, we have a Duty of care to protect new staff and allow them to flourish in new roles. We do not allow constant belittling. We will not stand by and allow workplace bullying to happen and the Council will consider seeking legal advice/ support on this issue. We want to protect our staff. Cllr Fellows has no interest in encouraging better relations with staff, it is more that he has a “pecuniary conflict of interest” which affects anything to do with Penketh Pool.
“With reference to the HR issue raised by Cllr Fellows. It involved a very sensitive safeguarding issue. The sensitivity of this means that this can NOT be discussed with the whole Council as we need to maintain confidentiality for all involved. As a Council we will always maintain confidentiality with an issue such as this and only the Chair and the previous Clerk were privy to the details of this case. It will remain like this. We employed the services of Warrington Borough Council HR team and the issue was resolved with a full investigation.
“On a final note, the Parish precept does NOT need to be increased. The decision was made intentionally as the Penketh community has suffered enough during Covid. We simply need to change the way the pool is run to free up money for the residents of Penketh. Cllr Fellows is clearly concerned his business will be affected by these changes and would prefer the residents of Penketh to have an increase in their council tax bill instead. It’s very telling that on 8th Jan 2020 when he was unaware his business was at risk in the pool he was happy for the precept to stay the same and VOTED to approve this ( minutes available). Now it appears on the 13th Jan one year later he feels he wants to increase the Council tax bill in a bid to protect his business.
Which is preferable for Penketh? – Freeing up £120k from the pool by making it a more viable business or allowing Cllr Geoff Fellows to continue running his private business from a Council building and asking the public to increase their Council tax? – Let’s hope the Public think about this in May!”
Independent Parish Cllr Geoff Fellows
