Council redundancy process grinds on
Wiltshire Council is to get rid of 340 jobs to cope with the cuts imposed by government and the council's own spending plans.
This year's budget (2013/14) increases spending by £18 million, which combines with the reduction in central government funding of £9 million to require cuts of £27 million.
All staff were able to apply for voluntary redundancy, and during the first round in June 331 applications were received. Of these 228 were accepted and 99 were refused. A second round of applications is open from now until July 12th.
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Lib Dem leader Jon Hubbard complained about the secrecy leading up to the initial announcement. "Not once was this mentioned by the Conservatives during the election period, " Jon commented. "Yet today we have an announcement hidden away at the back of next week's cabinet agenda announcing the loss of at least 340 full time positions from within the council.
"The cabinet paper gives no indication of which services will be hit by the job cuts, nor any indication of what due diligence and risk assessments have been undertaken to ensure essential front line services will be protected. What we see here is yet another example of the worst kind of decision making. And what really stinks is that this decision must have been made before the elections, and the people of Wiltshire were not told the truth about the Tory economic plans for the county."