70 at risk of compulsory redundancy after town hall merger

Apr 4 2009 by Dave Black, The Journal

Mr Stewart said: “We now have 70 people left at risk of compulsory redundancy, which is down from 120, and I expect that figure to come down further.

“They will get 90-day notice of redundancy but will use that three months to try to re-employ them. It could be September before that is finalised.

“From the position where we started, with a total of 16,000 jobs, I don’t think 70 at risk of compulsory redundancy is too bad. Things are not going to get any easier, and a lot of money will have to be saved again next year. We are not yet in a position to put figures on it.”

Phone system up and running

THE phone system problem that affected Northumberland County Council’s first day has been fixed.

Chief executive Steve Stewart said most people across the county would not have noticed the changeover, with all county and former district council services provided as normal.

He said yesterday: “It was sod’s law that the telephone problem had to happen yesterday, but it was not county-wide and we believe the it is now completely fixed.

“I believe the people in our customer service centres did a fantastic job yesterday.

“Things were never going to be absolutely perfect, but if this was the only problem I believe things went pretty well.”