WHAT THE UNIONS SAY
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However, what the unions don’t want is a licensing team in Northern Ireland for the hire and reward sector and another one in Leeds for own account businesses.
“We would hope that if there was additional new work then there would be additional new staff needed to do the work, or at least some sort of protection for any staff they may have been looking at reducing,” says PCS branch officer Gary Washer. “But having a half-and-half system is the worst of all worlds. You either have licensing system A or B. Either it will stay in Northern Ireland and they will have to have more staff and have a technological link into VOSA’s licensing system, which is not easy, or it will be easier to transfer all the work to the central licensing office in Leeds.” But he warns: “There are political implications of having a devolved government’s licensing function dealt with by VOSA staff in England.”