Council ‘losing control’ after it rehires workers it had paid off
BOSSES at Birmingham council have “lost control” of staff management after rehiring more than 200 people – despite spending thousands on making many of them redundant, it has been claimed.
The re-hiring of one in 10 council employees who have taken early retirement or voluntary redundancy since 2015 was condemned by an opposition group leader as “poor management”.
A total of 1,968 employees took either early retirement or voluntary redundancy since 2015/16, Birmingham City Council has revealed. The figures, released in response to a Freedom of Information request, showed 233 workers had been rehired by the council, maintained schools or academies. The early retirement or voluntary redundancies came as the council has come under financial pressures, with more than £730 million cut from its budget since 2010.
But Cllr Robert Alden, leader of the Conservative group, said: “It paints a picture of a council that has lost control of its management of staff”.
He said: “Paying someone to take voluntary redundancy and then rehiring them as you realise you still need them is simply poor management of public money and staff by the council.
“It appears from the information the council may have in effect managed to spend nearly £3 million sacking and then rehiring the same staff, equal to roughly one per cent of the council tax in the city.
“This is sadly just the latest in a long list of actions proving that Birmingham City Council desperately needs a change and new leadership.”
A total of 1,095 job losses were announced in early 2019, which brought the total to 13,000 since 2010 – half the council’s workforce.
But explaining the reasons for rehiring, a city council spokesperson said: “They have relevant skills, knowledge and networks which enable former employees to acclimatise quickly and contribute with different perspectives from across the organisation.”
The spokesperson added the minimum time needed to elapse before an employee could be rehired was a year for voluntary redundancy, three years for voluntary redundancy with pension and four weeks for compulsory redundancy.
The cost to the city council in terms of termination payments was £28 million.