6,000 jobs could go at Lancs County Council, says GMB
THE GMB union fears 6,000 jobs could be lost at Lancashire County Council over the next three years as a result of budget cuts.
It said its members at the council have been told the authority is seeking savings of £180m rather than the £160m they were expecting.
The council is expected to make a formal decision on how the cuts will be implemented when it receives an official notice of grant levels from central Government on December 2.
It said it was too early to predict how budget cuts would affect services and staff numbers but disputed the GMB’s figure. However it has already invited staff to volunteer for redundancy and early retirement.
Paul McCarthy, GMB regional secretary in the North West, said: “Cuts to the level of £180m will be devastating for jobs and services provided by Lancashire County Council. This is more than a quarter of the £725m the County Council spends each year on services.
“Cuts of this magnitude mean that more than 6,000 jobs, part of the 24,000 non schools workforce employed by the council, are at risk over the next three years. GMB will be meeting our members to consult them as to how they want the union to deal with this unprecedented position.”
Council leader Geoff Driver said: “Like all councils we are heading into a challenging period, but we intend to take a level-headed approach to managing reductions in our funding and minimise the impact on the frontline.
“We will need to become a smaller organisation and over time reduce in size by several hundred staff but nowhere near the 6,000 or even higher figures being unhelpfully speculated on by the media. Proposals approved by our cabinet will prioritise savings in back office areas and help us to reduce bureaucracy while protecting frontline services.
“This is a common sense approach to significantly reduce our management costs at a time when we know major funding reductions are around the corner. Although we need to become a smaller organisation we are committed to doing so without a big bang. These changes will be phased in at an appropriate pace and where jobs go we will be using redeployment and voluntary redundancy wherever possible.”
Last week Rochdale Council announced that it plans to cut a further 350 jobs on top of the 145 already earmarked, as it responds to £50m budget cuts. The council is also looking at a 2.5% pay cut for all its 7,000 non-teaching staff.
