Over 1,000 jobs could go to save council £40m

MORE than 1,000 council staff in Somerset could lose their jobs over the next three years as Somerset Council seeks to cut its wage bill by £40 million.

The council desperately needs to cut costs and will have to streamline the delivery of its services and generate significant savings for Somerset taxpayers.

The council launched a voluntary redundancy programme, which will close on March 24, in a bid to reduce a hefty bill from compulsory redundancy payments.

Decisions on which staff will lose their jobs will be taken towards the end of April, with the council hoping the reduction in staff will help avoid a budget gap of more than £137m by early 2027. The full council voted in May 2023 to approve redundancy payments of around £5.2m for a total of 29 senior officials – an average of £179,000 each.

The transformation programme was debated at length by the council’s corporate and resource scrutiny committee when it met in Taunton on Thursday.

It will run over a 12-month period and is intended to complement other efforts to streamline the council’s operation, including the sale of unwanted land, property and assets.

Around 20 per cent of the current workforce will be exempt from the transformation programme, including planning officers and other departments which already rely on agency workers or locum staff.

There will be “robust recruitment controls” put in place to prevent any rise in spending on agency staff and external consultants during the transition process.

Councillor Simon Coles warned that the cost and extent of transformation could quickly get out of hand, citing his own experience following the creation of Somerset West and Taunton Council in April 2019.

The district council – formed from the merger of Taunton Deane Borough Council and West Somerset Council – ended up spending more than £5.6m on redundancies, including that of its chief executive Penny James.

Mr Coles said: “I’ve still got the scars from a previous voluntary redundancy programme, which went over budget by a factor of four or thereabouts.

“We need to keep tight controls on that and ensure we keep the qualified staff who provide vital services to the public.”

A panel will be put in place to determine whether it is appropriate for a given individual to take voluntary redundancy, with the executive having final oversight of these decisions.

Cllr Sue Osborne (Ilminster) warned that a similar transformation programme at South Somerset District

Council had led to a sharp drop in the standard of services being provided.

Cllr Dave Mansell (Upper Tone) lambasted both the transformation programme and the Government’s decision to not allow the council to raise council tax by ten per cent in the recently approved budget, which would have brought its council tax take in line with neighbouring local authorities.

He said: “The big question is: will it work, what will it deliver and what will we have left? I’ve had no reassurance at all on this.

“It’s being led by the wrong reasons. It’s being led by the need to make massive savings – no one’s denying it, and that is the wrong driver.

“We’re looking to cut 1,000 to 1,500 jobs and further reduce services. We’ve got staff who are already overstretched and struggling to deliver existing services.

“We are in an impossible position, and I don’t think this is a credible solution. I think this will break the council.”

I don’t think this is a credible solution. I think this will break the council CLLR DAVE MANSELL