Lib Dem Concern at Job Losses

4.11.49pm GMT Thu 29th Oct 2009

Lib Dems today expressed concern at the news of threatened job losses in ICT at County Hall, which might lead to strike action.

The budget for ICT is overspent this year. Despite making savings elsewhere, managers are proposing a loss of up to 50 posts. Following questions raised earlier this year about the huge sums spent on agency staff and consultants, a protocol was developed to reduce these, with some success, but yet more savings are required.

Cllr Jean Fooks, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, said, "The last thing we would want to see is compulsory redundancies. We are concerned about the staff and the possible loss of frontline services to the public. It has been suggested that redundancies might be avoidable if the reduction was spread over 18 months - and we would support the County in looking at this."