Hull City Council prepares ground for £33m funding squeeze
THE start of a major overhaul of locally agreed terms and conditions for council workers in Hull is expected to be give the go-ahead next week.
Cabinet approval is required for negotiations to begin with the main trade unions at the Guildhall.
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E-mail to staff: Interim chief executive of Hull City Council, Darryl Stephenson.
But agreement on the issue is likely to be a formality after being heavily trailed by interim chief executive Darryl Stephenson and council leader Steve Brady over the last few days.
Mr Stephenson made the first move in a global e-mail to all staff early last week.
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In it, he mapped out the context behind the pressing need to trim the authority's annual salary bill of about £160 million.
He told staff: "You may well ask 'Why are we doing this?' and I write to explain.
"You should be well aware of the financial challenges facing the council. On present information, which may get worse, in excess of £8 million has to be taken out of budgets in 2013-14 but, more importantly, in excess of £25 million in 2014-15."
According to Mr Stephenson, locally agreed deals covering mileage, overtime payments and enhanced voluntary redundancy packages currently offered by the council are all likely to be reviewed.
He said: "Some terms and conditions of city council employees can be seen as generous when compared to neighbouring authorities.
"What we will be seeking to negotiate are the same terms and conditionsemployees in those authorities enjoy, which are those negotiated with their trade unions.
"By saving money in this way we hope to reduce the effects of the financial squeeze on jobs and bring down the cost of services so they are competitive and can continue to be provided by the council and avoid having cuts in other areas.
"There will still be a need to re-engineer services so they are provided in the most cost-effective way."
Mr Stephenson also warned that other "unpalatable decisions" would be need to be taken over the next few weeks to address the continued funding squeeze being faced by the council.
Some of those are also on Monday's cabinet agenda, including cuts to jobs in the authority's waste collection service, the axing of school clothing grants and proposed new charges for people attending day centres.
Councillor Brady said the council was facing an unprecedented situation, with an estimated £100 million reduction in central funding over the current lifetime of this government.
"Nick Clegg might be saying sorry about tuition fees but there has been absolutely no apology from him for this.
"There have been drastic funding cuts to the poorest people in the community," he said.
Comments
by felicity69
Tuesday, October 02 2012, 4:39AM
“We are more than 2 years into a recession and dramatic cost cutting in business, finance and homes has had to happen to survive. Hull City council is a dinosaur still trying to live in bygone days. Penny pinching exercises effecting the lowest paid workers and Hull's vulnerable communities cannot get approved. The top 10 spends both on a monthly and yearly basis need to be analysed impartially. Salaries will be a big one. Anyone earning more than the prime minister only need 3 months notice to slash their salary. If they don't like it, tough, there are plenty of unemployed skilled people out there and probably lots of middle management at the council that are carrying the bigwigs anyway. Then it's a case of necessity or nice? Day centers are necessity and the people attending cannot be asked to contribute. Flowers, shrubs and floral art is nice. It is needed in key tourist areas within the city but it can be massively cut back in the suburbs, especially at roundabouts and council buildings.”
by ErnestDeadman
Saturday, September 29 2012, 7:15PM
“I would like to apologise to you all I got it wrong when I said that you got what you deserved, you voted for them and how Labour would be looking to cut £28,000,000, because of the cuts they didn't enact, after they took power from the Lib Dems. Well they spent even more than I thought possible and it remains true to say they have wasted a fortune in various ways including paying off CEO's and temporary replacements costing far more. Now to give you some idea how much they have wasted they would have to put up council tax by 44% to cover this stupidity up. Happy voting in 2014.”
by PatrickNewman
Friday, September 28 2012, 4:14PM
“Local government has had to face a 28% front loaded cut in the support from central government and this cannot be ignored although it does not supply automatic justification for all cuts deemed necessary by Hull City Council. All of the cuts will impact on the poorest or vulnerable in the community. Job losses will largely affect local people and the traders they spend money with.
Is G4S looking after Hull's publicity these days. D Stephenson returns (no more nice guy stuff - Cllr Mancey will have vivid memories of Darryl's discreet interpersonal skills) at a huge daily rate replacing Nicola Yates who has or will receive a six figure pay-off. A large slush fund created from underspends. It is all very unconvincing.”
by nicht_namen
Friday, September 28 2012, 2:58PM
“Hypocrisy! cut from the top down!....”
by cantstandu
Friday, September 28 2012, 1:04PM
“The Council has assetts that could be sold off like all the big empty spaces of land that are jst a dumping ground. Lead by example Councillors”
by TigerPhi1
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 6:07PM
“I cant understand how a local government worker can be paid more than the PRIME MINISTER....”
by Justwanttosay
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 10:55AM
“How to save £33m - Easy, Just get rid of the biggest moneywaster ...... Brady!”
by AstonomiaSK
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 10:20AM
“There's something faulty with the Mails website, what does this mean
Sorry, failed to add comment : Object doesn't support property or method 't'”
by AstonomiaSK
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 10:20AM
“There's something faulty with the Mails website”
by AstonomiaSK
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 10:19AM
“It must be a funny place living in Darryl world...
LETS TRY AGAIN HE MIGHT HEAR THIS TIME
Darryl Stephenson Cheif Exec of Hull City Council:
Salary £292,000 per annum pro rata plus unpublished expenses
Start cutting at the top and work down.”