Fate of council jobs discovered this week

Nov 19 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

THOUSANDS of staff across Northumberland will find out on Friday what impact massive council cuts will have on their jobs.

County bosses looking to make savings worth more than £30m a year will order heads of department to call in staff on Friday and explain the difficult choices about to be made.

Thousands of staff will be emailed a request to consider taking voluntary redundancy as part of jobs cuts which are expected to see hundreds of staff leave.

Sources contacting The Journal have also warned libraries across Northumberland could be targeted for closure as part of money saving measures.

Staff fear the council budget, due to be set out later this month, will include a council-wide pay freeze and further job losses.

Opposition councillors have warned a pay freeze will take £1.8m out of the county’s economy, risking a much greater impact in one of Britain’s most sparsely populated areas.

Union leaders are bracing their members for bad news this week as the council struggles to get to grips with huge debt levels while meeting promises to slash spending as a result of the county-wide council merger this year.

Staff are said to be “preparing for the worst “ as they await Friday’s announcement.

At least seven departmental heads are thought to be calling in senior staff and then informing the rest of the work force about the need for voluntary redundancies.

Last night Labour group leader Grant Davey said he had spoken to many council staff fearing for their jobs.

He said: “The bad news will hit on Friday. We’ve known it was coming, but I can’t help feeling it’s premature.

“We don’t even know what next year’s Government grant will be yet we are telling people their job is at risk.