The Chairman has requested that the Committee discuss the way in which the authority has handled the recent redundancies and reorganisation within the Council.
Minutes:
The Chairman informed the Committee that she had placed this item on the agenda as she had wanted to ensure that correct procedure had been followed.
The Chief Executive reminded the Committee that there were continued cuts to budgets and that there was a need to work with less money. The budget for 2015/16 needed to be balanced and that he had worked with Heads of Service and Managers to find ways to save money and increase income. He had identified some redundancies and had consulted with the Leader, as per the Constitution, and had consulted with Human resources and the Union.
Those redundancies had taken place and the costs would be met within one year. The Chief Executive confirmed that there had been 4 redundancies and that these had been carried out in accordance with the Council’s policy on the matter. Redundancies were used as a last resort to balance the budget and were not estimated for each year.
The Head of Finance explained that the funds to pay for the redundancies had been taken from the reserves in the first instance. The organisation had been transparent and the savings were shown on the last budget statement. The effect of this could clearly be seen on the budget and if the redundancies had not been made the budget gap would be considerably higher.
One of the posts made redundant had strong connections to the Local Plan and the Chief Executive explained that it may be necessary for this Officer to return to the Authority at a later date as a consultant. However, the Local Government Pension Scheme would only allow Officers to earn in total no greater amount than they had been earning when in post. The Officer would be in post until 31 March 2015.
The Chairman reiterated that she was not happy that funds had been taken from the reserves without approval other than from the Chief Executive, Leader and Head of Finance. She stated her view that this was a budget issue which should have to be approved by Members. The decision was not in the Forward Plan nor shown as an Officer decision.
The Head of Finance confirmed that the Constitution allowed for the Chief Executive to make decisions such as this in consultation with the Leader. He had put in place a higher level of General Fund to allow for situations like this or a local disaster. There had been no intention to hide anything from Members, staffing levels were identified in the budget report on this agenda and Financial Monitoring went to all Policy Development Groups. Financial Regulations were approved by the Audit Committee.
Discussion took place regarding:
· The need to circulate a structure chart;
· Flexible Retirement;
· The need to make savings.
It was RECOMMENDED to the Cabinet Committee that:
The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee be consulted, along with the Leader, when the Chief Executive uses reserves to make payments for redundancies.
(Proposed by Cllr T W Snow and seconded by Mrs M E Turner)