Station Staffing

The request was successful.

Dear Northern Trains Limited,

Please can you provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:

1. Details of which stations within your company are partially staffed a) currently and b) how this has changed across the franchise in the last 5 years.

2. Details of which stations within your company are unstaffed a) currently and b) how this has changed across the franchise in the last 5 years.

3. Details of which stations within your company are staffed from the first to last service a) currently and b) how this has changed across the franchise in the last 5 years.

4. Details of how many station staff and ticket office hours as a proportion of total hours are rostered as lone working.

5. Data on how many station and ticket office staff are currently employed by your company and how this has changed across the franchise in the last 5 years.

6. Details of how many station staff in your company are employed via an agency and how this has changed across the franchise in the last 5 years.

Yours faithfully,

Sophie Ward

$UK ARN - FOI, Northern Trains Limited

Dear Sophie

Thank you for your request dated 11/03/20 for details of station staffing. We are handling your request under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Under the terms of the Act you are entitled to a response within 20 working days of receipt. We therefore aim to provide a response no later than 7th April 2020. If we cannot meet this deadline we will let you know the reason and also tell you when you can expect a response.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information, Northern Trains Ltd

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$UK ARN - FOI, Northern Trains Limited

Dear Sophie

We apologise for the delay in providing this information but due to the impact of Covid-19 on Northern's current availability of resources and staff, we are extending the deadline by 10 working days and hope to provide you with the information you require no later than 17th April, if not before.

Yours faithfully

Freedom of Information, Northern Trains

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$UK ARN - FOI, Northern Trains Limited

3 Attachments

Dear Sophie,

Please find attached our response to your recent FOI request, plus attachments. We hope this information is useful to you.

Yours faithfully,

Freedom of Information, Northern Trains

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Dear $UK ARN - FOI,

Thank you for your reply.

In regards to the list of managed stations (Qs 1-3) the information provided doesn't specify a) whether the staffed stations are staffed partially or from first to last train and b) whether the levels of station staffing have changed in the last 5 years. Please can this information also be provided, as per my original request.

Furthermore, please can you confirm how many station staff are employed via sub-contracts at Northern Stations. For instance, but not limited to, the station staff employed via a contract with Carlisle Support Services.

Yours sincerely,

Sophie Ward

Dear $UK ARN - FOI,

Further to my previous follow up email, your FOI response also did not answer the following question, which was part of my request:

5. Data on how many station and ticket office staff are currently employed by your company and how this has changed across the franchise in the last 5 years.

Therefore, in addition to the other outstanding information, please provide a response to this too.

Yours sincerely,

Sophie Ward

$UK ARN - FOI, Northern Trains Limited

Dear Sophie

Please can you clarify what you mean by "staffed partially"?

FOI, Northern Trains

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$UK ARN - FOI, Northern Trains Limited

Dear Sophie

We are able to provide the following information to you:

- Total number of station and ticket office staff employed by Northern: 300 station staff and 588 ticket office staff.
- Total number of station staff employed via sub-contracts at Northern stations: 411

We do not hold accurate information on how the station and ticket office staff numbers have changed in the last 5 years. This is because we do not now have full access to previous workforce data due to the changes in the franchise, as certain data relating to leavers within the previous Arriva franchise has to be extracted, handed to the previous franchisee and purged from Northern’s records. Certain payroll information is retained for tax and financial purposes but not for HR purposes and would not enable us to provide the information requested.

We are awaiting your clarification regarding your definition of “partially staffed” stations before we can respond to your remaining query.

Yours faithfully,

Freedom of Information, Northern Trains

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Dear $UK ARN - FOI,

Thank you for your reply.

By 'partially staffed' I mean stations which are staffed for some of the day, but not from first to last train.

I.e. can you please advise

A) the number of stations which are unstaffed
B) the number of stations which are staffed from first to last train
C) the number of stations which are staffed, but for fewer hours than first to last train

I hope that clarifies.

Yours sincerely,

Sophie Ward

$UK ARN - FOI, Northern Trains Limited

Dear Sophie

Thanks for clarifying, we are now gathering this information for you and should have it for you shortly.

Yours faithfully,

FOI, Northern Trains

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$UK ARN - FOI, Northern Trains Limited

Dear Sophie,

We can now provide you with the following requested figures:

A) the number of stations which are unstaffed - 327
B) the number of stations which are staffed from first to last train - 39
C) the number of stations which are staffed, but for fewer hours than first to last train - 115

Yours faithfully,

Freedom of Information, Northern Trains

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