Job cuts to cost Warwickshire County Council £10m
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 2:30 pm
£10 million is to be set aside for redundancy payouts in plans to shed up to 1,800 jobs at Warwickshire County Council.
The figure is in this year’s budget plans as Tory leaders seek £60 million in cuts over three years.
Council chiefs have pledged to keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum but say it is too early to say how many staff will volunteer for redundancy.
The Conservative budget, set to be rubber stamped by the Tory majority, includes closing up to half of the county’s 34 libraries, axing up to 10 elderly care homes, radically changing youth services, and hiking fees for many council services.
The Conservatives say 26 per cent cuts in government funding over four years leaves them with no choice but to examine new ways of delivering public services – including inviting community volunteers to step in to run facilities.
Meanwhile, opposition Labour councillors announced an alternative budget which they claimed would prevent library closures, save the threatened county youth service and protect charities from heavy cuts – while still balancing the books.
But Conservative council leader Alan Farnell accused Labour of “putting off difficult decisions for another day” rather than facing up to massive government funding cuts.
Labour leader June Tandy hit back by saying the Tory council, like the government, was proposing to cut “too hard and too fast”.
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