Tuesday, February 9, 2010
300 jobs go at council
Three hundred jobs are to go at Wolverhampton City Council over the next six months, the Express & Star can reveal today. More cuts are also likely by the end of the year.
Staff in the finance, customer service, human resources, IT and procurement departments are expected to be hardest hit by the cull.
In an unprecedented move, chief executive Richard Carr has written to 9,000 workers to admit he has “no option” but to order redundancies amid a financial crisis.
The frank letter, which went out to staff yesterday, outlines the dire state of the authority’s finances which demand it save an extra £35million by 2011.
The jobs crisis is linked to the controversial deal with private management firm Axon, which it today emerged has already cost taxpayers £1.5m even though it may still be scrapped. The Express & Star revealed on Monday how the authority has been plunged into crisis by being asked to provide £15m of the £60m total cost of the deal, which aims to improve efficiency by shedding posts and overhauling the council’s computer system.
The full council is meeting tonight to consider scrapping the entire Axon deal amid fears the cost will hit council tax and services.
Councillor Wendy Thompson, cabinet member for finance, today admitted the 300 jobs will go anyway even if the deal falls through.
“The situation we are in is horrific and it’s touch and go whether we can retrieve things,” she warned.
“Even without the Axon deal, we need to make these savings because we are in a dire position.”
Adrian Turner, head of the Wolverhampton branch of Unison, today refused to rule out strike action.
In the letter, Mr Carr says the council is facing “a difficult challenge” because of the credit crunch.
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That’s years of bad management for you!
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About time the Council shed some jobs. Better if it were 3000 let alone 300.
We all know for every one person doing a meaningful job there are two others sitting on their arse doing Sweet Fanny Adams
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CARR OUT! CARR OUT!
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i wonder how many council workers now think it was a good idea to strike a couple of months back over pay increases, the rest of us have been hit by short time and a cut in money but the council staff think they are somehow above the rest of us. welcome to the real world that many of us landed in quite some time ago.
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amazing how the credit crunch gets mentioned by mr carr nothing to do with incompetence.
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Bad management yet again too many jobs for the boys.
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how many council workers does it take to change a light bulb 1 plus 5 suits watching they use a stool to stand on right
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Anyone who has worked for a council will know how much money is wasted in local government. Poor tax payers have to pay the council so much in taxes, and you get people sitting in large offices who don’t think twice about spending unnecessary money.
Private companies would never allow this sort of capital waste, because there is always someone you have to answer and explain to.
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How will the sacked people know the difference? They don’t really work anyway – just take the money for doing nowt!
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Rather than cutting back on the relatively low paid council workers how about the council loses some of the vast amounts of overpaid and un-necessary contractors?
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At least them two Councillors (sex scandal) have gone. That’s two off the payroll!
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Small minded – not all Council staff are useless jobsworths. There is a lot of good hardworking folk here as well !
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I agree with many of the others that it has nothing to do directly with the credit crunch, it is purly a matter of the council being unable to manage the money wisely and effectivly. Take the Stafford Road Red Route for instance costing more than its worth then to rip it up.
May this teach the council a lesson!
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to be sure to be sure Elaine
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No.2 ‘We all know’ ?? Do we? On what sound and reasoned logic do you base this knowledge? Speak for yourself. Will you be complaining when there are less people able to support the local economy and more claiming benefits?
There are enough areas of high social need in Wolverhampton,without further job losses contributing to them further.
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thats right nick there are but its suits that are the problem i would say you work for the councl and you must see this as well ie high council taxes to pay the boys grossly high wages
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Sack the bosses bring in new blood
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Looks like the management have cocked it up again!!Possibly if they funded the collection of outstanding non paid Council Tax properly they would not need to shed jobs-then again there are far too many deputy heads of specious departments-
Has to the general publics attitude of “good job-get them out”-they are welcome to do the job for a month and deal with the general public!!
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Have any of you worked for the council? stop tarring us all with the same brush and using Derogatory sterotypes – some of us on the ground level work damned hard serving the vulnerable in the community – when you got evidence to bakc up your argument then you can sprout you foul mouths off!!
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Its all very well slagging the council workers off for being bone idle and lazy but they are people the same as a everyone else with families to support and bills to pay many deserve the money they get for putting up with the crap have put up with because of the attitudes some people have towards them.
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That’s what years of Labour incompetence results in. The current administration has inherited a truly horrendous state of affairs.
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just lost £20 on the horses that damned credit crunch mr carr
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300? Will anyone be able to tell?
Every dealing I have had with the council has been a complete nightmare as your greeted with a load of jobsworths who couldn’t give a monkeys. Now they expect sympathy? Just read through the comments to see what the publics view of the council is and the “great job” the workers do.
Good luck with the job hunting. I dont fancy your chances much when a prospective employer looks at your CV
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You go on about council slackers, but how many of you are at work reading this when you really ought to be working eh?
Pot/Kettle
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I wonder if this has anything to do with the £5million ‘black hole’ which has been found in the books? You know, the phantom £5 million the previous Labour administration included in the budget to keep this year’s 4.75 per cent council tax rise, within the Government’s five per cent ceiling.
And then the is the £700 million shortfall……
How many more of the previous administration’s skeletons are going to come out of the cupboard?
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I work for my local Government covering my own job and another half post whilst it is empty – how am i underworked and overpaid !
i didnt strike, that doesnt get you anywhere.
i would love to see some of you moaning minnies cover 1 and 1/2 job posts for no extra pay, in offices with NO air conditioning in the summer and and NO double glazing in the winter – how is that cushy
go on, give it ago – i dare you !
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I don’t like anybody losing a real job, but this is long overdue, as long as it is the right people? I’d start with the thousands of quango jobs this government has created.
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Have worked in Council for short period – and can honestly say that they do waste a lot of money. £500 per staff for a car park permit! £60 plus for Car Allowance per month – thats nearly a grand per person there!! Then you can claim all your additional mileage seperate. It truly is a joke! There is no accountabilty whatsoever. The amount they pay external contractors!! If the Council was more stringent and less laidback we wouldn’t be in this situation now. Also I bet it won’t be the top Officer jobs that go. It will be the hardworking frontline people who get hit the hardest.
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Why are people who do not work in the public sector allways slagging off those that do. If these jobs are so easy and cushy why dont you people try and get one. Or maybe you have tried and were not good enough to succeed.
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im an ex council worker.who worked at the civic centre fot over 16yrs.the place is a joke.loads of waste.costing thosands.new letter heads.ay up lets trow the olds ones out.only 30,000 of em.pen pushers doing nowt.i could go on and on.welcome to the real world. COUNCIL STAFF
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Blame the big wigs on their £50k Plus salaries, not the hardworking front line staff, who cleans up the crap you throw on the streets, when some dirty tyrant leaves a proeprty in disgrace, who cleans it up. Who goes out and provides care an support for the vulnerable and the elderly? please think before you make generalisations about council workers….like George H said, they have to put with abuse, being spat at beaten up, verabl abuse and threats, just cos their two kids are sharing a bedroom – oh yes the council should sort it out!!!! then they get abused…….also like mark (no.24) said, you all obviously have nothing better to do judging the time you posted these messages, sitting on your fat backsides, surgfing the net….hmmmmmmmm
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out with the jobsworth, and scroungers back to work! either way, us decent hardworking folk (who dont work for the council) are paying for people on benefits or overstaffed council workers, so there would be no difference in moving overstaffed council workers under the benefit claimants umbrella because we would still be forking out for somebody somewhere! there’s loads of jobs out there. there’s over a million Poles working in the country, so how come they can find jobs? it’s because the british think they are worth more than a minimum wage job!!
Labour council screwed this city up! i might not bother paying my council tax anymore if its wasted so freely by incompetent leaders who are too embarassed to say they messed up and blame it on global conditions such as the poxy credit crunch. they must have a briefcase full of excuses! next excuse, they will be blaming Freddie & Fannie
Rant over!
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You could get rid of even more and save the council tax payer more money. If these people pulled their weight and worked a full week, and had controlled sickness the money saved would mean more work done in Wolverhampton
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It’s about time they cut out rot at the top.
I worked in the civic centre for a short while and have never seen so many staff wandering around with the same piece of paper all day.
They probably didn’t know which colour wheelie bin to put it in!! Hah ha
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It easy to slag everyone off but we must recognise that alot of council workers do work hard but there are also alot of slackers who take the council for a ride with many (sick days)and little effort.The majority of the cuts should come from Top management wo are grossly overpaid and I don’t think you would even miss them.
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Hold on a minute! Individual letters to 9000 workers? That’s over £3000 in postage wasted – never mind the admin costs! How do they hope to save £35million if they don’t know how to send an email?!
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I resigned out of frustration at the lack of leadership and commitment to the things that really matter. This said, I am disgusted by some of the ignorant and bigotted nonsense spoken about the majority of Council workers.
Of course, I’m bias. I’ve witnessed on a daily basis the abuse, inconsiderate behaviour and pathetic excuses Council staff must put up with. People like Ade and Co are great at shouting their mouths off, but when it comes to delivering the goods, they’re as much use as a spare at a wedding.
Think service arE bad now, you seen nothing yet you pathetic little Yam Yams.
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Dear all
I am somewhat shocked and disturbed regarding the unsupportive comments for those employees who may be at risk from loosing their job’s. I cannot understand where this hatred comes from especially in a time where everyone ought to be supporting each other through the tough times ahead, what is happening to this world? Everyone is entitled to an opinion and I respect that, however I too would also like to comment on this issue. I am Human Resources Officer within WCC who works damn hard supporting manager’s in their day to day duties throughout the employment lifecycle from managing a recruitment function through to delivering training. I support around 1500 staff and my duties over the last few years have involved supporting those individuals whose job’s have been at risk and this is a horrendous situation for all, unfortunatly more of my time is being spent doing this. I too may also face this predicament very soon and therefore, would like to point out that I am not a job’s worth, certainly not lazy and take pride in all I do, I am a Chartered member of the CIPD and have studied hard for years to enable me to progress to where I am today. I am confident that when the time comes to move on I have a wealth of experience and a range of skills which will be tranferable and attracctive to pospective employees. Finally please can we take a stand against the hurtful comments and take time to think of the seriousness of this matter for many of your fellow human beings, all with responsibilities, all with mouths to feed, it really is not the time for sly nasty comments x
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i used to work at the civic centre for over 16years.the amont of waste was unvaliveable.a new letter head came out.they trew out 30,000 old ones.i could go on and on.welcome to the real world…council staff..
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cons in 5mins and another 300 out bring back
labour council
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Credit crunch or not it just shows how the council think they are a law unto themselves, prancing around in their fancy offices ,spending our money , expecting fantastic pensions, getting subsidised car loans and preferential mortgages.
I know someone who lives a short distance away who has 3 brand new cars bought on preferential council loans and which he swops evey year.Why should the tax payer subsidise this behavoir.Welcome to the real world .
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more doom and gloom before christmas to go with the below inflation pay rise on a wage below £200 a week for working till 10pm on weekends and bank holiays. a real morale booster !!!
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more doom and gloom before christmas to go with a below inflation pay rise on a wage of below £200 a week for working till 10pm at weekends and bank holidays.a real morale booster !!!
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Ditch Axon – save £60million
ditch say 20 top managers who have helped create this mess – save £1 million per year
don’t use consultants or agency staff – save even more
300 front line service providers would be missed unlike those who sit in meetings all day
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It’s all chinese whispers anyway as Mr Carr didnt even mention the credit crunch in the letter and the 300 jobs are to be lost by the end of 2009 not in the next 6 months, get your facts straight!
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Bulldoze Molineux to ground and build a “job centre” there…..It ain’t used for nothing at the minute….I hear they’ve found a major design fault in the Billy Quiet Stand……IT’S FACING THE PITCH!!!
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The letter stated that the jobs must be lost by the end of the Financial Year i.e.6 months time, with additional savings by 2011. As per ususal people who work outside the council are quick to slag off normal workers like ourselves. My wife works as a Nursery Officer for the council. Morale amongst many of the staff is rock bottom. The redundancies will not hit where they are needed which is Senior Management & above. If the Chief Exec was to take a paycut, reduce his expenses and and strip out 2 tiers of management then huge savings can be achieved. Another cost cutting initiative is to make employees who claim expenses to pay the money first and then claim it back. This will then make them think is the expenditure really justified. Another suggestion is to stop using temp staff from an agency, typically then can charge anything upto £12 per hour to supply temp staff. Contractors too need to be cut down but also people who are negotiating the rates charged by contractors should be more ruthless with their negotiations and stop the mentallity of “it doesn’t matter its not my money”
Basic principals that should be followed and if anyone in the council works in the finance team would work this out and respond as to the amount of money this would save then it might save the 300 jobs that are potentially at risk. The only jobsworths at the council are the leaders who milk the council coffers for all its worth.
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sack ‘em all i say… then when it comes to bin day and your rubbish doesn’t get emptied lets whinge about that too and blame the council for getting rid of the people that empty the bins! if you don’t like the way wolverhampton’s being run plese feel free to go away. we don’t want you here.
as for the person who described council offices as fancy… have you ever stepped foot in the civic centre? quite frankly if you think that’s fancy i feel sorry for you.
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No. 41 David Round – preferential mortgages? subsidised loans???? – please tell me more – been with wolves council 15 yrs + and never heard about that!!!! I totally agree with baggie one – most of you are unconsiderate and not thinking about the people who may lose their jobs….. we are not all jobsworths walking round with pieces of paper in out hands – Further More in response to annonymous – you must have worked for wolves council for a cuple of days, cause NOT ALL COUNCIL WORKERS GET PARKING SPACES!! Its mainly those who need to use their car for work. Further more we dont all get extra mileage or lump sums – this again is only granted to those who need to use their car for appointments elsewhere …e.g. Social workers, building surveyors, housing officers. you really need to get your facts right.
I agree that there are fat cats on £60 – 150k who are overpaid and leave it to us frontline staff to pick up the crap and then make us redundant, TRUST ME THERE ARE MORE “CHIEFS THAN INDIANS, MORE ORGANGRINDERS THAN MONKEYS” IN THE COUNCIL. There are people who also take the P and take lots of time off sick – these are the people who should be targetted.
I also didnt strike – there was no point – in fact the 2 days of strike action showed how people felt as the civic centre had at least 70% staff there. I am mindful there is a credit crunch and also greatful to be in employemnt for so long – but please think about those REAL hardworkers – THEY ARE THE ONES WHO WILL LOSE OUT – NOT THE BIG WIGS!!
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Well said Baggie 1.
I’m fed up at working my legs off at the Council and getting slated by some of the Scroats of Wolverhampton who are our so called customers.
Yes there is waste and most of it is the fault of our beloved pig ignorant councillors and not the hard working staff.
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stop slagging people off and get on with your own lives. Do these cuts affect you NO! so stop with your envey at some one having a slightly better job than your selves ,and anythings got to be better than industry the way people are treated by that lot!
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yeah 300 jobs going,then watch them spend all the saved money on a mosque or art in the county!
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How many people work at the Council?
(about 20%)
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