Hull City Council: 'Back office job cuts will protect frontline services'
A DECISION to axe 240 staff at Hull City Council has been confirmed by cabinet councillors.
The move will remove the equivalent of 170 full-time posts and is aimed at making savings of about £5.6m a year by automating administration-based jobs at the authority.
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Tough decision: Steve Brady, left, and Daren Hale
It follows the release of 1,000 staff by the council early last year under a voluntary redundancy programme.
Council leader Councillor Steve Brady said changing so-called "back office" systems in the business support department meant frontline services would be protected.
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"My hope is that by offering voluntary early termination to the staff involved, we may be able to alleviate some of the concerns that come with a decision like this," he said.
"We don't want to see compulsory redundancies and we will be doing our best to avoid them."
He claimed government funding cuts had left the council in an impossible situation.
"Never in my lifetime have we faced such dramatic cuts in public expenditure," said Cllr Brady.
"Unfortunately, we have got to make sure we have a balanced budget and this saving needs to be made because it is already built into the budget.
"It was put in by the previous administration who had no plan to implement it and no idea how these savings were going to be made.
"If we don't do anything about it, savings would have to be found from elsewhere."
Jobs will go in finance, personnel, information technology, legal services and administration support.
Deputy council leader Councillor Daren Hale said: "We want to make sure as many people as possible are able to leave the organisation on a voluntary basis.
"I am not saying there won't be pain in this process but hopefully there will be as little pain as possible."
Comments
by Kirke
Tuesday, November 27 2012, 11:14AM
“Kiminhull, I've learnt never to take petty politiking seriously. I havent seen a comment by you that hasn't been guilty of this. Expect to be taken seriously? A little objectivity wouldn't go amiss.
Neither Labour nor Lib Dems are working for Hull, clearly, but I reckon that is only part of the story.”
by Prescotts_Cat
Tuesday, November 27 2012, 10:39AM
“Is this connected to the jobs at risk in another article a while back which said the that some admin work is still paper based and doesn't use a computer? Why are government offices so backward, is it incompetence or laziness? Or both.”
by PatrickNewman
Tuesday, November 27 2012, 10:07AM
“Questions still remain about the cost of redundancies and the effects on frontline services if the £1.1M consultancy has yet to deliver the claimed improvements in productivity. Presumably such reductions are not the result of cuts to Hull's grants but to the improvements to backoffice systems and methods including to ICT itself. Whether voluntary or compulsory these job losses will have an impact on Hull's economy as well as worsening public finances.”
by KiminHull
Tuesday, November 27 2012, 8:33AM
“The Fib Dems may not still be in power but the effects from their reign of chaos is still hitting the council and ultimately the people of Hull. You watch, in a few days they will be shouting out against these cuts pretending it's nothing to do with them or their MPs that vote with the Tories at every opportunity. The ultimate two faced party.”