Council staff in Fife are to be asked to consider taking voluntary redundancy, early retirement or cutting their contracted hours as part of the council’s plans to save cash.
With major public sector cuts looming, thousands of workers will receive letters next week explaining the need for Fife Council to save £120 million by 2014 and asking what part they can play in helping to make the organisation more efficient and effective.
The council has already confirmed it wants to try and cut its 22,000-strong workforce by 10-15% over the next four years, with council chiefs now asking employees if they would like to leave through voluntary redundancy or early retirement, or if they would like to reduce the number of hours they work.
Workers will also be asked if they would like to consider flexible retirement, while the council is similarly keen for more workers to work in more flexible ways such as working from home to help the organisation cut down on costs. Whatever happens, the challenge for Fife Council is a huge one in that it has to save millions of pounds and reduce the number of people it employs, yet deliver its Big Eight priorities and maintain customer satisfaction at a time when demand for council services is increasing.
Sandy Gallanders, head of human resources, confirmed the next stage of the council’s plan to reduce the workforce is about to begin.
“We’re carefully planning our approach to workforce reduction to make sure we’re taking account of the financial challenges we need to meet as well as customer and employee needs,” he said.
“We are keeping employees and trades unions updated with our progress and will do so each step of the way.
“To help with this planning process we’re going to be writing to all employees at the end of August, asking them whether they’d be interested in a range of options such as voluntary early retirement, voluntary redundancy or changed work patterns.”
Recent figures revealed the council employed around 22,209 people as of April last year, 13,274 of whom were full-time.
A third of them were expected to be eligible for retirement within 15 years, with the authority’s age profile continuing to peak in the 40 to 59-year-old bracket.
With that in mind, councillors were told earlier this year that voluntary redundancy, early retirement and flexible working deals could cut the council’s staff by 9.1% by March.
But with massive cuts in public spending anticipated, the council admitted a 9.1% cut in staff would not be enough hence the launch of its Think Change campaign.
The campaign underlines the need to provide critical community services but do it in different ways, highlighting the fact that a smaller workforce will need to focus on only doing things that contribute most to the council’s priorities and making services fit for purpose.
The letters to employees, which will be sent from Monday onwards, are expected to explain how they can get more information.
Department managers have said they will consider requests alongside the needs of their service.
Photo courtesy of Stewart Lloyd-Jones.