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Massacre claim on £41m reduction
Friday 28th November 2008, 11:44AM GMT.
Controversial plans to cut £41 million from services across Wolverhampton were today branded “the biggest massacre the community has ever seen” by critics.
Rival politicians were today blaming each other for the crisis which will see redundancies and unprecedented cuts to services.
As the Express & Star reported yesterday, the Tory-Liberal Democrat alliance has announced 150 job losses among a raft of cutbacks affecting people including the elderly and library users.
For the 2009-10 financial year, the Government is handing the council a grant only 2.2 per cent bigger than now, which works out as a cut when compared to inflation.
The Tory group, which came to power in May at the local elections, continue to blame Labour for overspending in recent years.
Group leader Councillor Neville Patten said: “The truth is the budgets we inherited from Labour were in a mess and we were left to pick up the pieces.
“Nobody wants to announce job losses and cuts from the budget because we know it is sensitive issue, but we were faced with a bad starting position and the credit crunch.
“If you put those two together, we were left in a position where we have two problems to deal with. We are also facing poor Government funding.”
Labour was said to have left a £5 million ‘black hole’ in the budget for the current year after an expected shares dividend from Birmingham Airport was placed on the books but failed to materialise. The council say that the shortfall has been accounted for this year, but the £41 million of cuts relates to the period between 2009 and 2011.
The Labour group has furiously denied any of the blame, and say that the cuts are being introduced because the Tories want to reduce council tax in April.
Labour Councillor Steve Evans, group spokesman for adult services, said today: “I will be campaigning to try and mobilise the community and get them together to fight these cuts.
“This is the biggest massacre the community has ever seen – it’s a real bombshell to us all and we will fight tooth and nail to keep our services going, our libraries open and people in jobs. These are Tory cuts, nothing else.”
The council announced 300 separate job cuts in September under a deal with private sector troubleshooting firm Axon which would have seen the authority save £43m.
But it said today that if the deal is scrapped as expected, the job losses are expected to reduce and only a proportion of the 300 would still take place.
Unison branch secretary Adrian Turner reacted angrily to news of the redundancies and scale of service reductions.
He said: “You cannot make savings of this kind without it impacting on jobs and services and we cannot rule out industrial action.”
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AND THEY WANTED TO SPEND -HOW MUCH WITH THE AXON DEAL? TRUTH IS COMING OUT NOW AS TO WHY THEY CAN’T AFFORD IT OR IT WAS A WASTE OF MONEY BECAUSE NO ONE AT THE COUNCIL HAS GOT A CLUE HOW TO PUT THIS DISASTER RIGHT!!!
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I think we all know the public sector is bloated and over capacity, especially so when compared to any similar private sector co. Absenteeism and laziness with a “couldn’t care less attitude” are rife.
I apologise to those that defy the above profile, however I say this with much confidence after anecdote over anecdote via a relative who works for the council.
Further, this is my opinion will be a vote winner and in this most difficult of climates financially, folks will want better value for money which if that means job cuts in the council and some cutbacks in service for a lower council tax then so be it.
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Stop moaning..the truth is look at the figures..Wolverhampton has received far more cash from central government than like for like cities and pours it down the drain- even the residents accept its finished and time to stop throwing ggod money after bad..will the last person to leave please turn the lights off
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“You cannot make savings of this kind without it impacting on jobs and services and we cannot rule out industrial action.”
What for? does not get us anywhere does it?
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The problem is those to lose their jobs will be the normal workers like you or i, who from my experience tend to be very hard working. Whereas those to keep there jobs will be the overpaid fat cat bosses who’ve got the council in this situation in the first place.
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So Labour Councillor Steve Evans will be fighting the cuts that are a result of his and his fellow councillors’ incompetence and mismanagement.
And yet these are ‘Tory cuts’? This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Labour mess have to be cleared up by the Conservatives.
Wait for the same thing to happen on a National scale some time in the next 18 months.
All those 5-a day health advisors, quit smoking advisors, consultants, diversity officers, council PR managers and fitness advisors were really worth wasting the money on weren’t they?
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IT’S NOT THE FIRST TIME WE’VE SEEN A CONSERVATIVE MESS CLEARED UP BY THE LABOUR PARTY EITHER DAVE. SEEMS THEY ARE AS BAD AS EACH OTHER, BUT THEN AGAIN THEY ARE ONLY HUMAN LIKE US ALL IT’S JUST SOME OFF US ARE BETTER MANAGERS THAN THEY ARE!!
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EVERYONE DECEND ON THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING AND DEMAND THE RESIGNATION OF ALL TOP EXECUTIVES WITHOUT THE LUCRATIVE PAYOFFS IF TEY WONT THEN DONT PAY OUR COUNCIL TAX MONEY OR PAY IT DIRECT TO AN AREA THAT IS AT RISK. AFTERALL THEY COUNCIL HAVE RECEIVED THEIR MONEY BUT WE HAVE CHOSE TO SPEND IT FOR THEM INSTEAD OF IT BEING WASTED
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I totally agree with Dave’s comment but has anyone even considered the service users themselves and the impact on their lives, i will only lose money and a job (which is bad enough) but they will lose their homes
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(9) about time people like you took some self responsibility… deos anyone force you to have a big mortgage NO anyone force you to have credit cards NO anyone force you to live in wolverhampton NO
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Stand outside the Council office in Wolverhampton and watch how many staff come out. It is like a beehive with the bees flying out. With technology as it is, there is no need for this mass of staffing. Unfortunately, as with Dudley Councils and Councils across the country Wolverhampton is out of control. Money rolls in from their employers, you the tax payers, so they hire more people in offices, attending meetings, talking, taking breaks, long holidays, sick days off used for holidays, golden pensions etc. Services are not important, let’s just look after each other!!!
Until there is a clean out of the staff levels at these Councils, they will continue to under perform, cut services that they are employed for, and continue to employe incompetent people. It would be worth investigating nepotism in the Council. I am surprised the E&S haven’t got a decent investigative journalist looking into the staffing costs, the overheads, the cost of outsourcing, the cost of consultants and agencies used by Wolverhampton Council.
It is about time, the Council produced a detailed document showing incoming/outgoing monies so that their employers can see where money is going.
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paignton man and torquay man are the same person
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Paignton man-does anyone force you to work where you work? Get a better job your obviously in need of it struck down with i aint got a council job envey!
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Good grief, judging by the standards of grammar and spelling displayed in the comments on this website I’d say we need a few adult education classes
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Perhaps, given the recent terrible events in india, these critics would like to publicly apologize for their grossly inappropriate use of the “biggest massacre the community has ever seen” commemt such poor judgement on so many levels.
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No. 1 Mark – I for one am one of the hardowrking council workers who rarely has a day off sick – it sickens me when ppl who work at the council take the p*&% and use sick days as annual leave – those ppl should be sacked. It’s a shame for those who are genuinely ill…but i’m sad to say ppl do take advantage there, and there needs to be a big shake up – just hope i’m not one of them!!
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What a disgrace. Richard Carr the chief executive is paid more than the Prime Minister and is now getting an assistant who will be paid 80K plus. The people loosing jobs are normal working people on 14k who look after the elderly and young. When the vulnerable are left to fend for themselves and someone dies because of the cuts, remember who got paid what and who failed to deliver.
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Steve Evans is right. How can it possibly be the fault of the party who, apart from two separate one year periods and one two year period, were in charge of Wolverhampton council for nearly 35 years? Clearly the coalition who came to power six months ago is entirely to blame. Going off on a tangent, a Local Government Association says turnout at local council elections is barely over a third, but clearly that’s the fault of the electorate who pay for, rather than claim, local councillor’s expenses (and for the record I don’t just moan – I have voted in every election, local, national and European, that I have been eligible to – that’s what gives me the right to complain)
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Welcome to the real world
‘Jobs for life’ is an outmoded concept.
The unions should keep their heads down and advise their members to work hard and stop skiving or they will further risk losing their jobs
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