Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
More staff take up redundancy offers
This year, 73 employees have taken payouts from the local authority to leave their roles early — at a cost to the taxpayer of nearly £750,000.
Last year, there were just 16 folk who left their positions through a voluntary redundancy scheme, receiving a total of £156,945 in payouts.
It follows efforts by the local authority to reduce its long-term costs in the face of huge cuts to its budget.
Fears were raised today over the impact of the loss of high numbers of staff. Jim McFarlane, of union Unison, which represents a number of council workers, told the Tele: “Not only are we losing a wealth of knowledge and expertise but there is considerable pressure left on those employees still in post.
“The situation is going to continue to get worse and further cuts proposed will result in a massive loss of expertise to the council. “Services will undoubtedly suffer and workers will feel the pressure.”
Councillor Kevin Keenan, leader of the opposition Labour group on the council, said he had concerns about the number of workers leaving t he l ocal authority.
He said: “I’m surprised that the figure is not higher because of the budgets being forced on the council. However, the figures give cause for concern.
“These redundancies mean that the council is continuing to lose a great deal of expertise.
“There is very little forward planning and I have serious concerns about the future.
“We are losing council staff in various fields, including education.
“We have been losing teachers with various qualifications.”
A spokesman for the council told the Tele: “The city council has operated voluntary early retirement or voluntary redundancy schemes for all staff, except teachers who have their own scheme, which were approved as part of the budget setting process.
“Staff were invited to apply and their applications were carefully considered. The council is in regular discussions with trade unions around the issues involved with voluntary early retirement or voluntary redundancy.”
Details of the council’s budget for 2017/18 will be revealed in the new year.
DUNDEE City Council has shed dozens of staff through a voluntary redundancy scheme.