County council announce plans to cut 818 jobs

The proposal to cut 818 staff members was announced today (Wednesday) to save £18m of Lincolnshire County Council’s target of £125m savings in the next four years.

The current proposals, which are out for consultation for the next 90 days, cover 3,200 people, which is almost half of the council’s staff. One quarter of these are expected to lose their jobs.

The hardest hit area will be Children’s Services, which is where the majority of staff are employed.

Executive Councillor for Finance and HR Kelly Smith said: “Difficult times call for difficult decisions, and to meet a tough budget we have had to look to deliver services in a different way.

“Unfortunately staffing reductions are inevitable, however wherever possible we hope that voluntary redundancies will minimise the number of compulsory redundancies that have to be made.”

About 1,100 people working in senior management and adult social care operations have already been part of consultations and a further 1,500 jobs will be looked later this year.

By the end of the process it is expected that the council will employ around 5,500 staff - 1,200 less than now.

Cllr Smith said: “We recognise that this is a difficult time for our staff and are increasing support available to them, as well as helping them access opportunities for alternative employment in the future. We do not want to have to review services again as this would lead to uncertainty for our staff in the future so we are taking action promptly.”

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