Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council to cut staff hours...

[dutchman]

Cutting staff working hours and suspending their “single status” negotiations could save Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council almost £1m.



That’s the plan put forward by Tory councillors, in their alternative budget to help the local authority find £1.6m of savings over the next financial year.

They will be announcing their final figures on February 14 – nine days before the controlling Labour group reveal their plans at a full meeting of the council.

Tory group leader Peter Gilbert said: “The reality of the Borough Council budget is that some 70 per cent of all spending is on staffing. Naturally, then, the greatest savings will have to be made in that area.

“We propose a reduction in the working day of a half-hour for the majority of staff. Front-line services, such as the refuse collection would be exempt but this would still save some £750,000 in 2011/12.

The so-called ‘single status’ cross-council job evaluation exercise would be deferred for a year, to save a further £200,000.

This would reduce the council expenditure by almost one million pounds, with the remaining money found from admin costs.”

Coun Gilbert added: “We regret the need to curtail staff hours, but the existence of flexitime working means there will be little or no impact on being able to reach appropriate staff. From the staff point of view, this shares the pain equally.”