Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
Welcome
Welcome to the UNISON PFI and PPP pages. In these pages you will find
- Information about PFI and PPP
- Information about why UNISON opposes PFI
- Specialist pages containing information and news about PFI in the health service and in local government
- Education resources to use at branch and workplace level to inform members about the dangers of PFI and what they can do about them
You can navigate through this site and access the material in it by following the links
What are PPP and PFI?
Public Private Partnerships (PPP) is the umbrella name given to a range of initiatives which involve the private sector in the operation of public services. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is the most frequently used initiative. The key difference between PFI and conventional ways of providing public services is that the public does not own the asset. The authority makes an annual payment to the private company who provides the building and associated services, rather like a mortgage.
A typical PFI project will be owned by a company set up specially to run the scheme. These companies are usually a consortia including a building firm, a bank and a facilities management company. Whilst PFI projects can be structured in different ways, there are usually four key elements: Design, Finance, Build and Operate.
The Positively Public Campaign
Positively Public is UNISON's campaign to keep our public services public. Years of privatisation and underfunding have left many areas of public provision in a poor state. We welcome better funding of these vital services. But we don't believe that more privatisation is the answer.
All our evidence and experience shows that once services are run for private profit, the quality of care is reduced and the public service ethos is replaced by a hard-nosed profit motive. It is about who makes the decisions about caring for your elderly relatives or your children's education or housing the homeless-someone with their heart in the right place, or someone with an eye on the balance sheet.
Bargaining Support Group
UNISON can also provide information and guidance to branches involved in campaigning against PFI projects through the Bargaining Support Group at Mabledon Place.
The Bargaining Support Group collects information on companies, their public sector contracts, and other operations. This can be used by branches for campaigning against a particular company, a specific project, or a bargaining issue arising from a PFI transfer.
Bargaining Support Group can provide your branch with reports on
- Private Companies holding contracts in the public sector, including information on finances, contracts and ownership
- Agreements with private companies signed by UNISON
- Company Updates - A monthly bulletin providing the latest information and developments on companies in which UNISON has an interest, alongside much more information that your branch may find useful in a PFI campaign.
• The UNISON contact for PFI issues is Margie Jaffe.
UNISON PFI
1 Mabledon Place
London WC1H 9AJ
Email: m.jaffe@unison.co.uk
Reclaiming the Initiative - putting the public back into PFI
The report catalogues how ever-growing billions of public money has become locked into financing massively expensive PFI schemes. The Government has committed taxpayers, for a generation to come, to a bill of more than £217bn worth of repayments between now and 2033/34 on just £64bn of PFI projects. PFI’s reliance on the private sector was supposed to give public building programmes more rigour and strength but, as the union’s latest report - “Putting the Public Back into PFI” – shows, in reality it has exposed them to greater hazards and weaknesses. Public projects have been tainted by private failure
Reclaiming the Initiative - putting the public back into PFI
UNISON’s response to the consultation on the NHS Constitution
UNISON has welcomed the idea of the Constitution as a means of protecting the core values of the NHS. However, its submission puts forward a number of significant changes in key areas including safe staffing levels and the need to have a level playing field with all providers of NHS services covered by the same standards.UNISON’s response to the consultation on the NHS Constitution
Refinancing: profiteering from public services
Lots of PFI contractors are 'refinancing' their loans - changing the terms of their borrowings to increase profits by as much as 80%. Most public bodies making PFI deals have allowed contractors to keep all these windfall profits. The National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee have condemned these arrangements and said the benefits of refinancing should be shared between contractor and client.Refinancing: profiteering from public services
What is wrong with PFI in schools
As more PFI schools are built it becomes possible to judge their success. UNISON has members intimately involved in PFI. This report draws on their experience and rounds up the evidence to date.What is wrong with PFI in schools
PFI: Against the Public Interest
The report analyses the failings of the government's private finance initiative and public private partnerships, highlighting high profile contracts which have failed and PFI companies, such as Ballast which went into receivership.PFI: Against the Public Interest
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