Leicestershire County Council has revealed it will have to cut up to 650 jobs in the next four years in a bid to tackle a £66m funding gap.
The job cuts will come from the 6,000 full-time equivalent posts at the council, but a spokeswoman told Personnel Today the decision on where the cuts would fall has not yet been made. The county’s schools, however, will be exempt.
The council pledged to minimise compulsory redundancies by attempting to redeploy staff across the council.
Leicestershire County Council has also pledged to make £47m of efficiency savings and increased income, and save £19m from its services.
Council leader David Parsons said: “We have been very honest in setting out the size of the problems we face, due to government debt, the recession and increased demand for adult social care and waste services. We have also lost £117m of government grant over the past five years, compared with the average.
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“We’ve worked hard to find as many efficiency savings as possible and will continue to do so, but it is inevitable that people will see a reduction in some services and higher charges.”
The £47m efficiencies will be spread over all of the council departments, but will specifically include the abolition of the Community Services department and management restructuring across departments.