Cash-strapped Sandwell Council: No more jobs will be lost

Hundreds of workers have been laid off by the council in recent years amid massive cuts in funding from central government.

But current staff have now been assured their jobs are safe.

Council leader Darren Cooper said previous job cuts had been 'inevitable' due to the need to slash staffing costs.

But he said the new agreement would also save cash as well as improve morale among workers.

The council has spent £6 million on redundancy pay-offs since 2013.

The deal will see a reshuffle among staff, with some switching departments to areas of higher importance.

There will also be a freeze on recruitment of 'all but essential' workers during the two-year period.

Chief executive Jan Britton said the council had moved away from the 'boom and bust cycle of downsizing'.

"In return for giving our people job security until March 2017, we are getting greater flexibility from them so that job descriptions, and work roles, for example, are not so prescriptive and can be more easily changed.

"Staff will be more mobile and more ready to switch to new roles with any necessary support and re-training.

"We can move away from the traditional 'boom or bust' cycle of downsizing, which often includes redundancy from posts no longer needed followed by recruitment to job roles requiring different skills.

"Instead, we can save money by investing in the people we already have and re-model our workforce in a way that makes financial sense.

"It's good for staff, for residents and the council."

Council leader Darren Cooper said: "We will probably be one of the first councils to implement such a scheme. Our staff have seen tremendous change over the last five years and we have also lost a significant number of staff through the redundancy process.

"I am pretty proud of our record. We have only lost 69 staff through compulsory redundancy but given these massive cuts local government is experiencing it is now time where we are able to offer some kind of stability to staff who have gone through hell and high water and have still remained utmost professional in delivering services to the people of Sandwell.

"It gives us the opportunity to say to our workforce they have the guarantee of a job for the next two years.

"If we had our way we wouldn't have made any redundancies but given the best part of £280 million has been taken out of the system and given most costs to a local authority are staffing, inevitably we have had to reduce the workforce in the way we have. "