Council services fear as 3000 want to quit
0 Comments | Evening Times; Glasgow (UK), Jun 11, 2010 | by GERRY BRAIDEN
COUNCIL bosses face a drastic reduction in services after 3000 staff applied for voluntary redundancy.
It means Glasgow City Council could create a call centre for social work emergencies and the privatisation of waste collection.
Around 1800 people were expected to apply to leave by the closing date of March 31, however the high number has sparked concerns about the council’s ability to maintain current services and whether it has a strategy to deal with the aftermath of the departures.
The news comes as the authority gets to grip with the biggest ever public sector cash crisis.
Glasgow has led the public sector in slashing costs with actions that will be replicated across Scotland.
The council, which has a target of 4000 fewer staff by 2013, claims it has too many employees but said its approach has been underpinned by a need to avoid compulsory redundancies.
Although the departures and the redesign of services will take place over the next three years, early indications of the impact are emerging.
One in six members of staff in social work are to leave after being offered early retirement, while almost a third of all front- line staff in parks and cleansing, around 830 workers, have applied to leave. Around 820 social work staff from a workforce of 4900 have taken up the offer.
Only a few areas will remain exempt from having staff cuts, including child development officers in education, essentially nursery nurses, and residential care staff within social work.
The drastic reduction of front-line parks and cleansing staff has led to opposition politicians raising the prospect of fortnightly refuse collections and unions to talk of privatisation.
Although the social work staff going are not from the front line, unions have also said the burden of bureaucracy will be foisted on to those working in the field.
Ronnie Stevenson, Glasgow social work convener for the union Unison, said: “Senior management has made it clear 800 people can’t go without a diminution of service.”
Details emerged this week of further financial pressures impacting on the council-owned arms-length agencies, with Glasgow Community and Safety Services running a pound(s)3.5 million deficit for 2009/10, Glasgow Cultural Enterprises, the recently wound-up body running the Royal Concert Hall having a pound(s)900,000 deficit, more than 30% worse than expected and being picked up by the council. City Parking’s absence rate at double its target.
A briefing from the council’s senior officials to staff said: “There are a number of challenging areas for services in implementing this programme for significant change, and there is no doubt that the council will have to invest in service areas, in particular land services and social work, by restructuring, introducing new technology, employing recently qualified staff and apprentices.”
Glasgow City Council leader, Gordon Matheson, said: “It’s vital the Westminster and Edinburgh Governments recognise we are already tackling the problem and treat us fairly in the coming spending rounds.”