By David Scott
14 October 2009
A crisis-hit Scottish council has begun talks with staff and trade unions on budget cuts that threaten up to 600 jobs.
Aberdeen City Council said it needed to reduce the workforce so that it could balance its budget for 2010/11. The council has issued letters at the start of a 90-day statutory consultation period on the proposed job cuts. It had also faced a budget crisis last year when it was strongly criticised by Audit Scotland over its ‘precarious financial position’.
Service departments across the council are currently drawing up proposals for 5% budget reductions, which equate to a saving of £16.9m.
The council said redundancies would be considered only as a last resort if there were too few applications for voluntary severance, early retirement, reductions in hours and redeployment – the means by which the council cut its costs in 2009/10.
Chief executive Sue Bruce said the council was committed to working closely with staff and the trade unions to minimise the impact of job reductions.
‘We must all, however, face the fact that the very difficult economic climate and the extremely tight financial settlement that we are expecting from the Scottish Government together mean that very difficult choices will have to be made to produce a balanced budget next year,’ she added.
Janet Adams, regional organiser of the GMB union, said it was disappointed that the council was again planning to cut posts through measures that had been ‘deeply distressing’ to members when the previous cuts were introduced.
14 October 2009
A crisis-hit Scottish council has begun talks with staff and trade unions on budget cuts that threaten up to 600 jobs.
Aberdeen City Council said it needed to reduce the workforce so that it could balance its budget for 2010/11. The council has issued letters at the start of a 90-day statutory consultation period on the proposed job cuts. It had also faced a budget crisis last year when it was strongly criticised by Audit Scotland over its ‘precarious financial position’.
Service departments across the council are currently drawing up proposals for 5% budget reductions, which equate to a saving of £16.9m.
The council said redundancies would be considered only as a last resort if there were too few applications for voluntary severance, early retirement, reductions in hours and redeployment – the means by which the council cut its costs in 2009/10.
Chief executive Sue Bruce said the council was committed to working closely with staff and the trade unions to minimise the impact of job reductions.
‘We must all, however, face the fact that the very difficult economic climate and the extremely tight financial settlement that we are expecting from the Scottish Government together mean that very difficult choices will have to be made to produce a balanced budget next year,’ she added.
Janet Adams, regional organiser of the GMB union, said it was disappointed that the council was again planning to cut posts through measures that had been ‘deeply distressing’ to members when the previous cuts were introduced.
