'Grievances over redundancy scheme' says union official as council accused of spending too much on agency staff

The local authority is looking to make £22m savings after an emergency budget last summer, due to the impact of coronavirus.

HR business manager Anne Davies appeared before the council's administration and regulation committee yesterday (Tuesday).

She explained that the voluntary separation scheme (VSS) for redundancies was launched in August.

"We had around 122 applications, of which 21 were approved and 17 refused," she said.

"There's been some thinking around the level of exit packages now permitted, with proposals for the local government pension scheme due to be amended.

"If we don't advertise anything, we're limiting the opportunities for people facing redundancy or redeployment to stay within the council."

Christina Beddows from Unison told the meeting: "When the separation scheme was introduced, we were very disappointed the financial test wasn't broadened.

"That would have been a perfect opportunity at that time to get more people out on voluntary redundancy," she explained.

"Some of our members are very disaffected by the processes which are taking place.

"There are several grievances lodged in. To be put in that nightmare after the exit payments cap, it's caused some people to be very anxious and stressed."

She said the union asked for details about agency workers, which it has a right to do, but had received "absolutely nothing" back.

"We don't know how many agency workers are still working in the council, or how many interims or temporary staff there are.

"The last time we looked at that, a few years ago, the council was spending £15m on agency workers in a year.

"The other thing we looked at was a recruitment freeze and that hasn't happened."

Corporate director of infrastructure, Nicola Monk, said: "The cap has been known about for a while, but it came in very quickly and the pension regulations haven't caught up.

"We find ourselves in a difficult position, as does all local government, not just this council.

"Some people have lost their jobs through the emergency budget process. That's really sad.

"We've significantly reduced the number of agency workers as a local authority over the years.

"We don't spend anywhere near the sum quoted. The aim is to move the spending on agency workers down significantly, well below £10m."

Liberal Democrat Stopsley councillor David Wynn said: "It seems to me you're having a complete nightmare.

"All the items on the agenda appear to have implications on redundancies, voluntary redundancy and so on.

"My understanding is that we're woefully short in meeting the savings we promised to get."