Up to 90 jobs set to go at Plymouth – most in Adult Social Care

UP TO 90 Plymouth council staff are facing redundancy between now and the Spring. Most of the jobs set to go are in adult social care, after the department saw major structural changes in the autumn.

The city council has been going through a formal consultation on the redundancies.

The first jobs could go as early as this week, and the losses could go on until March 31, 2011.

A Plymouth City Council spokeswoman said: “In November 2010, as required by law, we notified the Department of Business, Education and Skills that up to 90 staff may be at risk of redundancy between now and March 31.

“Recent decisions to modernise how our adult social care services work mean we will need fewer of these staff in the future. This makes up the majority of those currently at risk of redundancy.

“We are working with these people to find them other roles with the council. Only those staff that we are unable to find alternative roles for will be issued with notice of redundancy.

“We are not clear yet how many people this will be as the chances of employment elsewhere within our organisation are good.

“We have been very successful in minimising redundancies and hope to continue this success in the future, while managing down our workforce numbers through other means.

“In the coming months we will continue to meet staff and trade unions to discuss the future implications of our budget.”

The last HR1 issued for non-schools staff expired on March 31, 2010.

Since April 1 last year there have been 19 redundancies, including three “carried over” from an earlier wave.

Council departments have been told to save money, which could mean fewer staff are needed. Labour spokesman Cllr Mark Lowry called for the council to be “more open and transparent”.

“People need to understand what’s going on and be able to plan for the future. What worries me is that we are going to have a drip-drip-drip of redundancy notices throughout the year.

“Is it going to be left to every department to issue redundancy notices as they see fit?

“It’s not clear to me what support the council is giving to employees.”