Manchester Council to axe 300 jobs to save millions

Up to 300 jobs a year will go at Manchester council as bosses work to cut town hall spending – without hikes in council tax.

The cutbacks, which chiefs pledge will involve no compulsory redundancies, emerged as the council approved its budget for the next year.

Plans to make £37m of cuts by 2013 – as detailed in the M.E.N last week – will not include a rise in council tax or extra costs on services over the next 12 months, a full council meeting was told yesterday.

But finance chief, Coun Bernard Priest, told the M.E.N it would mean that many of the 500 or so staff who leave the council each year would not be replaced.

He estimates that up to 300 of those jobs, mostly administrative, will go as more services are provided to residents online.

Coun Priest said: “We have built this budget around no compulsory redundancies.

“Council tax will not go up and there will not be service cuts but we have to make savings by becoming a lot more efficient.

“Something such as getting a disabled badge can be done for a few pence online rather than costing the council £20.

“Around 500 people leave the council each year and I expect up to 300 of those, mostly administrative, will not be replaced. The existing workforce will be trained to be more flexible and have transferable skills. Front-line services will not be affected – for example if a children’s social worker goes, they will be replaced.”

Redundancies

He said no one would be asked to take redundancy.

Outlining budget priorities to yesterday’s full council meeting, Coun Priest said departments would continue to invest in education, skills and work initiatives, highways improvements, tackling crime and disorder in neighbourhoods and continued regeneration of the city.

He said “We are making sure Mancunians have opportunities to improve their lives.

“This budget attempts to make sure relevant attention and resources are put on priorities of Manchester and its residents and this year it’s perhaps more important than ever before we get it right.”

While council tax will stay as it is for the next year, police and fire service precepts will add under one per cent to bills – an estimated £10 for those in band D properties, according to officers.

Council tax is forecast to increase by one per cent in both 2011/12 and 2012/13.

The M.E.N detailed last week how town hall bosses plan to cut back spending over the next three years, including placing more children with foster parents to save £2.8m on care home placements and getting sick and elderly residents back on their feet quicker through an ‘enablement’ programme to save £2.4m in care home costs.

A sickness absence crackdown among social services staff will help save £1.8m in the department and £345,000 will be pulled back through staffing changes at Central Library.

Council leader Sir Richard Leese said the budget was prudent and had been drawn up to meet residents’ priorities.

He said: “We’re investing in a safer city and neighbourhoods of choice. We’re investing in people of all ages, but particularly young people.”