Cambridgeshire County Council’s HR director has insisted redundancies will be a last resort as the council moves to axe 300 posts to help slash spending by £95.5m over five years.
The council has been forced to make savings following increased demands on services, inflationary pressures and the low level of grant settlement it receives.
Stephen Moir, corporate director, people and policy and law, told Personnel Today that the council had been “upfront and honest” with colleagues about the scale of the challenge facing the council and how this would impact the workforce.
“Redundancies will be our last resort to achieving these tough but necessary reductions,” he said. “In preparation for the next five years, we’ve been applying a range of enhanced recruitment controls for some time, meaning that a number of vacant posts that already exist can be removed from our structure without directly impacting on people.”
Moir added that natural staff turnover would further reduce the need for redundancies. “Managing our internal talent pool and using redeployment to fill different posts as we transform services will also be key.”
The job cuts are expected to be made over the next two years in full consultation with unions, although Moir could not put a figure on how many people might be affected.
Last week, Birmingham City Council announced plans to axe up to 2,000 jobs to save £69m by April next year.
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