January 26, 2011 4.47 pm This story is over

Lincolnshire County Council to cut 818 jobs

Job cuts: Lincolnshire County Council is looking to cut 818 jobs as the authority had over a quarter of its government grant slashed.

Lincolnshire County Council proposals will see 818 people take voluntary or compulsory redundancies, the equivalent of about 607 full-time jobs.

The council issued on Wednesday consultation documents to 3,200 members of staff (around half of all staff), but only three-quarters will remain employed by the authority.

The largest reductions are proposed in children’s services, as this is where the majority of County Council staff are currently employed.

Some staff are not included in these new proposals. Talks to decide the future of a further 1,500 people will take place in the summer.

This includes services such as ICT, Customer Services, and administrative services, collectively employing around 1,500 members of staff.

These proposals do not affect operational firefighters or staff working in schools.

A restructure of the senior management team has already taken place, with 35 senior posts scrapped in a bid to make savings worth £3.5 million.

Overall, the Lincolnshire County Council has to save £125 million over the next 4 years because of a 28% reduction in government grants and increased cost pressures.

The final budget is due to be set at the full Council meeting on February 11.

Once consultations are completed across all employee groups, the council expects to be employing around 5,500 people across Lincolnshire.

Cllr Kelly Smith, Executive Councillor for Finance and Human Resources at the Lincolnshire County Council, said:

“Difficult times call for difficult decisions and to meet a tough budget we have had to look to deliver services in a different way.

“Unfortunately staffing reductions are inevitable, however wherever possible we hope that voluntary redundancies will minimise the number of compulsory redundancies that have to be made.

“We recognise that this is a difficult time for our staff and are increasing support available to them, as well as helping them access opportunities for alternative employment in the future.

“We do not want to have to review services again as this would lead to uncertainty for our staff in the future so we are taking action promptly.”

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