Wolverhampton City Council to shed 450 jobs

A total of 450 jobs will go at Wolverhampton City Council over the next financial year, it was confirmed today.

Budget cuts totalling £53 million between 2011 and 2015 will result in cuts to the 13,737 people currently working for the authority. It comes on top of £15m of cuts in 2010/11.

But council tax is on course to be frozen at this year's rate and the budget will be £239.4m.

The budget has been drawn up over the past financial year during which control of the council changed from a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition to Labour.

Bosses will have to take £4.9 million out of the £41m reserves built up under the Tories and Lib Dems in order to fund services to the level Labour wants.

So far 230 voluntary redundancies have been sought and 246 people on fixed term contracts face losing their jobs after government funding runs out in March.

Notices of potential redundancy have been issued to 524 staff but council bosses said they expected 450 to go.

They have identified 311 posts that will definitely go over the next financial year.

The biggest cuts will be in the adults and community department where 99 jobs will have gone, mainly in social services. The children and young people's department will lose 26 people while regeneration and environment will shed 25 posts.

Customer and shared services will lose 21 jobs and the office of the chief executive will lose seven.

Cuts include charging council staff for car parking, transferring the Ekta day centre for elderly Asians and the Shopmobility service to the voluntary sector. Shopmobility provides scooters and other mobility support for the disabled.

The council is forecasting a budget shortfall of £60 million over the next five years even after £40m of cuts already made.

Council leader Councillor Roger Lawrence said: "Over the coming months services will have to be re-shaped and several hundred jobs will be lost."

But today he pledged to reduce the price of hot meals on wheels for the elderly and disabled from £4.40 to £3.40 and to re-open the city's two tips every day of the week from April to September, a partial reversal of cost saving measures put in place by the coalition.