Staffordshire school redundancies bill may rise to £9m

The bill for redundancies at schools in Staffordshire will rise to more than £9 million by 2017, it emerged today.

County council chiefs are expecting to spend £9.442m on new redundancies as well as posts it has already scrapped.

Hundreds working in schools have left their jobs since a programme of measures to cut £120m over four years was launched. Plans to slash £2.9m from education as part of £25m savings next year were revealed this month. Bosses believe they will fork out £1.9m for school redundancies in 2013/14.

The figure will rise to £2.6m in 2014/15, fall to £2.2m the following year and reach a high of £2.7m in 2016/17. The layout is included in a document titled 'detailed pressures, savings and investments' which will go before the council's cabinet this week.

Schools manage their own budgets and any changes to staffing levels will reflect pupil roll numbers, chiefs say. It comes after more than 200 school staff were made redundant in the calendar year 2010. More than £7m was spent in redundancy payments to 422 workers, with more than half of those posts in schools.

Council leader Philip Atkins says the authority is channelling its resources into improving Staffordshire's "economic prospects". Part of a draft strategic plan for 2012-17 states:

"Our overriding priority is the improvement of the economic prospects of our county and by focusing our efforts on the economy we will then be able to improve the prosperity of our families and communities, and face the challenges that lie ahead."

The £25m cuts next year include slashing nearly £4.5m from the care budget and withdrawing £170,000 of funding for Shugborough.

The Conservative-controlled authority plans to freeze council tax up until 2014.