Council pledge on front-line job cuts

Published on Saturday 7 November 2009 19:03

BOSSES at one of Scotland's largest local authorities have reassured staff that job losses will be kept to a minimum following news of cuts to front-line services.

North Lanarkshire Council plans to tighten its finances over the next few years in an attempt to recoup the first 15million of a massive 75m deficit.

And the financial challenges facing Scotland's fourth largest local authority will affect almost every one of its services. Proposals include axing teaching assistants and campus police officers, curtailing school cleaning and roads maintenance and increasing charges for home care.

The proposals have already sparked a row between council officials and the ruling Labour administration, which is refusing to accept a number of ideas to claw back 1.2m, including charging the elderly for services such as home care.

Council chief executive Gavin Whitefield has written to staff to reassure them that every effort was being made to ensure the impact on jobs and working conditions is "kept to an absolute minimum". He added "Where such an impact is unavoidable, we will consult with unions about the way forward. There should be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the efficiency proposals for 2010-11."

Union officials have voiced relief that the cuts announced are not as harsh as anticipated, but fear that these could be a precursor to more severe staff reductions in 2011-12.

Last week Audit Scotland warned that the spending cuts required over the next few years could not be met by efficiency savings, saying councils faced "difficult decisions".