GMB welcome Sussex CCG assurances that PTS staff will get paid

GMB, the union for ambulance staff, have gained assurances that GMB members working for Docklands Medical Services will finally receive outstanding pay.

GMB members, some of whom are still to receive any pay for August, are delighted that Coperforma have agreed to make payments to members and staff at a meeting with GMB and High Weald Lewes Havens CCG. These payments will cover outstanding amounts due since April this year and for pay due at the end of the month.

If Coperforma fail to meet any agreed and set pay dates going forward the CCG’s have given assurance that funds will be made available to the payroll company arranged by GMB who have been given the task of sifting through the incredible mess left by Docklands to ensure that pay is correct and timely going forward until such times as staff have moved to another provider sourced and arranged as a result of Docklands ceasing trading.

Gary Palmer, GMB Regional Organiser, said: “GMB members are very pleased to hear the news that responsibility for this mess has finally been apportioned to the right people and that they accept the need to put right a long standing embarrassment for PTS services and our members in Sussex.

The agreement will see the combined CCG’s accepting responsibility for money owing if Coperforma fail to deliver on their promises, a move both GMB and the CCG’s agree is necessary considering staffs treatment and experiences to date. The CCG would then look to recover that money back from Coperforma who have failed to carry out effective due diligence on those they sub-contract to.

GMB have engaged a payroll company to help out after the collapse of Docklands to assure that staff who have failed to be paid last month are given their pay and to make sure that this month’s pay, due at the end of September, is delivered on time and is correct.

GMB then need to carry out an extensive piece of work to unpick all monies still outstanding by Coperforma from the collapse of VM Langfords and Docklands medical services, and that’s not a small task I can assure you.

GMB will continue to prepare for the worst case scenario and that means we will continue to work on the case to wind up all companies involved, as a plan B, should this agreement collapse leaving our members still owed outstanding pay, something we hope will no longer be needed.

What happens now regarding GMB members getting back out on the road, delivering services to the patients of Sussex, is still to be clarified and arranged now that, for all intents and purposes, Docklands have gone. The priority was, however, that we resolved the pay issue first which will see money in Banks.

Our thanks of course go to everyone who have worked so hard to get us to this point, they are too many to mention, but Sussex MP’s and councillors certainly need a mention and we will be contacting them separately to pass on our thanks and the thanks of our members.”