Edinburgh to cut 700 council jobs – as 20,000 staff are asked to go part-time

It emerged yesterday that all 20,000 council employees had been sent an e-mail asking them to consider taking unpaid leave or going part-time.

The council said the equivalent of 700 full-time posts – roughly one in 30 staff – will be cut as it is facing a deficit of over 90 million over the next three years.

John Stevenson, president of the Edinburgh branch of the trade union Unison, said: "We don't doubt the council is strapped for cash, but all the frills are gone.

"What is enraging our members is the complete dislocation of the people from the service they provide. There is no indication or reassurance how services, especially those to vulnerable people, are to continue if posts are cut."

Ian Hood, co-ordinator of Learning Disability Alliance Scotland, said: "This is the worst situation in about 12 to 15 years, and things are really starting to bite. We're already seeing a situation where private contractors are providing a 'life and limb' service.

"There is a danger the council will resort to a 'bargain basement' way of running services, which will cause a great deal of stress to clients and their families.

"We've been running a campaign in Edinburgh where people have been expressing real concern about what is happening to the services they depend on.

"One of our campaigners, a 39-year-old man with learning difficulties, who is quite frankly scared of what the council has been doing, said it was like being on a snakes and ladders board, working really hard to go up and being kicked down again."

Jim Inch, director of corporate services, said staffing costs accounted for over 500m during 2009-10. He added that it was necessary to find a way of maintaining services while reducing the staffing costs.

"A range of options is being considered such as natural turnover, deleting vacant posts, ending temporary contracts and reducing agency and overtime working, and restructuring to reduce the number of management posts," said Mr Inch.

"Key policies on voluntary early release and redeployment have been developed to support the workforce management activities. These are being discussed with the trade unions and will be considered at the policy and strategy committee next week."

Jenny Dawe, the council's leader, said: "Our staff and the unions have a vital role to play in helping us to successfully deal with the changes we need to make."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "While it is for individual councils to make their own decisions on staffing and priorities, local government in Scotland is continuing to receive an increasing share of the overall funding available to the Scottish Government.

"Edinburgh City Council will receive an additional 14m in 2010-11."

He added: "The funding increase for councils in Scotland next year would have been 174m higher had it not been for the 500m cut in the Scottish budget from Westminster."