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The GMB union accused a council of threatening staff with a ‘lock-out’ if they did not sign a new contract containing changes including pay, sick pay, and car allowances. The GMB added that thousands of council workers face losing their jobs unless they accept the contracts. Labour-run Rhondda Cynon Taff (RCT) council, which has the second highest population in Wales, expressed disappointment at the GMB reaction. RCT stressed it was reviewing staff contracts because of cuts, and hoped to avoid compulsory redundancies. Tensor is the number one for staff clocking and payroll with our smart card Time and Attendance systems. These include WinTA Start which holds up to 50 employees’ details, including a photograph of each employee. Using the software a summary of clocking details can be viewed at-a-glance, showing individuals or groups of employees. An Exception view quickly identifies areas where the normal working pattern has not been followed. Up to nine reason codes can also be stored in the clocking station. These allow clocking out for configurable reasons such as Dentist, Business or Smoking Break.  

A man appeared before magistrates over a case of ‘cowboy clamping’ following an incident when a doctor paid £120 after his car was clamped and reported suspicions about the matter to police. London resident Joseph Ty Hedley Fox was accused of engaging in conduct when not licensed by the private security industry legislation which governs car clamping. He was cleared after a trial because it was uncertain the money paid by the doctor was to remove the clamp or was simply a parking fee. The Tensor range of automatic car park barriers is the number one solution for controlling vehicle access to your site's car park and road entry points. Immediately able to recognise and allow or deny access to personnel, Tensor's parking barriers cater for all sizes of premises and are highly adaptable. Their features include: an extruded aluminium barrier arm, high visibility red reflective striping, arm lengths of up to six metres; and require no routine maintenance. The barriers are also capable of operating alongside any installed control or ticketing systems.  

Senior fire and police staff said a new plan to merge their two control rooms would save money and improve services. The Tayside area's chief fire officer, Stephen Hunter, said it was one of several options being discussed, including sharing fleet maintenance, in the light of expected funding shortfalls. He added: "Over the coming months a detailed feasibility study will be undertaken to enable the fire and police boards to evaluate the options and reach the necessary decisions once clarification is received regarding future levels of funding.'' Tensor clocking recording technology serves up the solution if your organisation is moving or merging staff, as our software handles all hours and wages calculations. WinTA Enterprise is our flagship time and attendance system and is suitable for larger organisations, as it is unrestricted by the number of employees and packed with additional features. It provides total control over working rules, job costing and fire roll call, and can be combined with biometric technology to provide extra security clearance. It comes complete with a T8440 Clocking Station and 50 Smart Cards.

The UK's largest local authority has defended posting letters to its non-school employees to consult them about accepting flexible working contracts. The Section 188 notices issued by Birmingham City Council refer to car allowances, staff parking and flexible working, which a spokesperson said would enable the council to redeploy staff with similar skill sets between departments and use them where they were most needed. The spokesperson added: "This section 188 notice will not result in anyone being made redundant." A Time and Attendance smart card clocking system from Tensor is so flexible it copes with a variety of working conditions, shifts or contracts. Using the software you can create a wide range of daily working patterns, with either fixed or flexitime rules, and the system even caters for annual contracts common in the public sector. You can set breaks to activate between set times, and/or after a minimum number of hours have been worked. Suitable for large corporate bodies like councils, our WinTA Enterprise network can store up to 2000 employees on a single Time & Attendance clock.  

Auctioneers of a former toilet site in the West Country say the area could suit redevelopment, meaning another public facility will almost certainly be lost. The toilet block and land in Bath is being sold by Network Rail. The lavatories are built on a site that is "irregular shaped with frontage on to North Parade Road and Pulteney Road" in the city. The lot is expected to recoup a five-figure sum when it goes on sale this week in London. A means of keeping public lavatories open is to fit Tensor coin operated toilet turnstiles which demand a modest entrance fee to the block. Generous revenues can be generated from the turnstiles to maintain the toilets. Our turnstiles offer improved security, are available in a number of styles to suit your needs and are perfect for high volumes of traffic. Half height toilet turnstiles provide an unobtrusive method of controlling access to your toilet facilities, and suit both interior and exterior installations. Their integrated payment systems offer a fantastic way to control access alongside a hardwearing and stylish finish.  

Robbers posing as police officers have committed a string of thefts. Among the victims of the cruel group are thought to have been a 94-year-old woman who was conned out of £20 in Cosham, in Hampshire, while officers say the thieves struck again later in the day when their burglary attempt on an 80-year-old woman in nearby Totton was foiled. Police warn residents to always ensure they ask for an officer’s warrant card to check their ID. Tensor plc, who specialise in Visitor and Access Control, have developed a Visitor Management System (VMS) which uses the latest PC technology. VMS is a low cost computer based Visitor Management and Visitor Pass production system that can check the identity of and monitor the arrivals and departures of an organisation’s visitors and contractors. Reception and gatehouse staff can quickly check the identity or enter the details of visitors, and print their personalised ID pass. Unlike paper-based systems VMS provides individualised, bar-coded passes with monitored expiry dates; and instant scanning, storage and retrieval of crucial documentation, licences or insurance certificates.

Jobs have been saved at AgustaWestland because the coalition will give £32 million more to bolster the West Country aerospace concern. The Yeovil-based firm will be aided in developing its civil helicopter programme. The deal was made as a result of the deficit-busting Spending Review by Chancellor George Osborne. Yeovil Liberal Democrat MP David Laws hailed the fact that programme escaped cuts, and added that it vindicated the lobbying he and the company had done. Tensor's Personnel Software is the culmination of over a decade of real world experience in the human resources and time and attendance sectors. The software offers everything you would expect from a personnel management system, and many more additional features that will save time and aid strategic planning. There are three versions of Tensor Personnel currently available allowing you to choose the version best suited to your company's requirements: Small Business, ideal for companies employing 50 people or less; Lite (a multi-user version for up to 250 employees); and Enterprise – a multi-user, multi-site edition that has no employee limits.

Violent criminals were included among those wrongly released from jails in Great Britain due to administrative mistakes. London prisons featured heavily in the top ten instances of prisoners freed inadvertently over the past three years – Pentonville (six times), Wandsworth (five) and Belmarsh (five) were among the most common. BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said although official statistics have emerged before about this subject, this was by far the most extensive data released so far. Tensor has helped the Prison Service’s security measures by developing advanced and robust technology to facilitate its procedures dealing with visitors. Smooth and efficient access is provided by your Tensor PC-based prison monitoring system, whilst maintaining complete security and allowing you to control the movement and identification of contractors, visitors, and their vehicles. Tensor Prison Pass is a version of our Visitor Monitoring System (VMS) which proves very useful if questions about a person's identity or credentials come in to question. Document scanning, access and barrier control and CCTV tracking can also be included in this modular network to fully complement VMS.

A politician north of the border has questioned the wisdom of cutting jobs at an employment agency during these tough economic times. "It simply doesn't make sense that the agency tasked with helping people find alternative employment if they lose their jobs is itself making 125 people redundant in the teeth of a recession," Labour's skills spokesman David Whitton said. The Scottish government responded to the redundancy news by stressing its commitment to the Skills Development Scotland agency arranging 34,500 training places next year. Contactless smart cards in a Tensor time and attendance network will aid quicker throughput and, along with our time and attendance software, help to protect your workforce with the efficiencies they produce. Our popular smart cards contain no batteries, thus theoretically they can be read an infinite number of times. The factory encoded ID code in a card cannot be duplicated, therefore the scanning entry regime is very secure. Smart cards are the size of a standard credit card so are thin and flexible enough to be carried in your wallet.  

Soaring passenger numbers have led to Southampton port chiefs set their sights on a fifth cruise terminal which would create hundreds of new jobs. Directors of Associated British Ports were due to show the plans to cope with the increased throughput to junior transport minister Mike Penning. The number of passengers has trebled from 500,000 in 2004 to almost 1.5 million, and the projected figure for 2020 is 2m. The development could see 90 extra cruise ships coming to the city. A fully scalable Time & Attendance system from Tensor, WinTAnet allows a business to adapt from a small single site operation to a large global network. WinTAnet handles all major hours calculation methods, so all types of contracts, pay scales and working rules are catered for if you are taking on more workers. You can also enable breaks to activate between set times, and/or after a minimum number of hours have been worked. The optional auto-clockout feature allows the system to automatically clock an employee out at a specified time if no clockings are made.  

Another local authority is seeking to take a large slice off its total workforce following the Government’s deficit-busting Spending Review. Lancashire County Council needs to trim £180 million from its budget over the next three years. The GMB union said it is very hard to see where new jobs were to come from to replace the potential 6,000 job losses. It added: “It is also very difficult to see that there will be enough volunteers prepared to leave their jobs in the absence of alternative employment." Featuring comprehensive user-definable working patterns, rosters and shifts, Tensor offers a complete smart card Time and Attendance system. WinTAStart.NET includes a T32xx Smart Card clocking station, 25 Smart Cards, software including all the features to manage time and attendance recording for up to 50 people. Clocking station features include: 1MB on-board memory; a 6 line x 21 character / graphics display; a control output which can operate an electronic lock or shift change siren; and an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) in case of mains failure.  

Record low crime figures have been recorded in Hartlepool, thanks to a recent campaign. A total of 492 crimes were registered in the latest monthly figures, a drop of nearly 30 per cent compared to the same period last year. The figures follow rates being slashed in half during recent years. Officers are putting the decline down to the Respect Hartlepool campaign, which has been thwarting shoplifting and other offences. The campaign asks people who live, work and socialise in the town to 'Respect Yourself, Respect Others, Respect Hartlepool'. Time & Attendance North East have designed WinTAnet, a complete Time and Attendance and integrated security system for 20 to 10,000-plus people, in conjunction with a new range of colourful, .NET and wireless enabled smart card and biometric clocking and access control equipment. Current customers can upgrade without having to change their T32xx or T25xx clocking stations. As well as access control it deals with all major hours calculation methods; plus job rostering, absence planning and entitlement management, and absenteeism and lateness reporting.