Shropshire council sends dismissal letters to entire workforce

Conservative-led council says it will re-hire staff if they accept 5.4% pay cut A Conservative-led council has sent letters of dismissal to its entire workforce, telling them they will be re-hired the next day only if they agree to a pay cut. Shropshire county council gave its 6,500 staff notice of their dismissal on 30 September, but offered them immediate re-employment if they accepted a 5.4% pay cut as well as changes to their sick-pay arrangements. The council said it needs to make the changes to find £7m towards a total savings target of £76m over three years. The alternative would be “large-scale” redundancies. Jackie Kelly, the council’s head of organisational development, said it had been necessary to embark upon a legal process of “dismissal and re-engagement” following failure to reach agreement with trade unions. All staff had been offered re-employment. “Whilst we appreciate [that] the formal nature of this process may lead to some anxiety, we intend to continue offering reassurance, guidance and support to all our staff over the coming days, weeks and months,” Kelly said. Unison, which represents about 40% of the council’s workers, said the letters had frightened and intimidated people. Leaders of the union’s Shropshire branch would be meeting to discuss balloting on industrial action. “We’ve been told to sign up and shut up,” said Alan James, branch secretary. “There’s not a lot of places we can go with this.” The council’s plan emerged as new figures showed that spending by councils on local services has fallen for the first time in two decades as a result of cuts in government grants. Councils in England will this year spend an average 5.7% less on services than in the previous 12 months, including almost 15% less on housing, 21% less on roads and 32% less on planning. The spending figures provide the first authoritative overview of the effect of the sharp cut in council grants for 2011-12. The main grant has been reduced by almost 10%. According to public finance body Cipfa, which has surveyed all councils’ spending plans as notified to Whitehall, expenditure on services will amount to £99.5bn or £1,921 per person – a return to levels of 2008-09. Cipfa says the reduction is the first since the introduction of the poll tax in 1990. The biggest spending falls are in the north-west (an average 7.8%) and north-east (6.9%), with the lowest in the south-east outside of London at 3.2%. Ian Carruthers, Cipfa’s policy and technical director, said: “These statistics underline the difficult decisions councils have been faced with in setting their 2011-12 budgets. It is only through effective financial planning and an emphasis on efficiency that the impact on frontline services has not been greater.” One encouragement for ministers is that their measures to protect spending on services for elderly and disabled people appear to have worked: average spending on social care is shown to be rising this year by 1.6%. But groups representing the hardest-hit services expressed dismay. Campbell Robb, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, said: “Our advice services are already seeing a huge increase in demand as unemployment and cuts to services begin to bite, whilst local authorities reduce the safety net for those in housing need.” Trudi Elliott, chief executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute, said: “Planning has a critical role to play in supporting communities’ aspirations for growth, new homes and protecting the environment and their social fabric.” The local government minister, Grant Shapps, said councils’ total spending this year, including expenditure other than that on frontline services, would amount to £118bn. This equated to more than £5,000 per household and there remained scope for savings without hitting services. “By cutting waste, more joint working and improving procurement, councils can do more for less,” Shapps said. “Good councils can hold council tax down and protect frontline services.” But Dave Prentis, general secretary of public services union Unison, said: “Given the biggest-in-a-generation spending cuts hitting councils, it’s hardly surprising that spending has shrunk so drastically. Look behind the figures and you’ll find cuts sending shockwaves through communities.” Public sector cuts Local government Public sector pay Public finance David Brindle guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.