Major unions back council's m people plans

Manchester City Council is to become even more efficient and cost effective thanks to a new agreement - m people.

The Council and Trade Unions have been working together in developing the 'm people' process. It is a new way of enhancing the best use of the skills of the existing workforce and wherever possible matching those skills to roles where staff can make the biggest impact in improving services.

A ballot of all the major unions representing workers directly employed by the council resulted in the proposal being agreed by the unions.

It was adopted for agreement at the joint consultative committee held yesterday and has now been formally approved at the Council's Personnel Committee held today.

The proposals will mean that staff will be able to move around the council to develop their skills and enable a range of departments to benefit from employees skills and expertise.

It will help the council to locate staff with the right skills and place them in the right areas to meet service needs much more quickly.

m people has been developed through a partnership of the Council leadership and management together with the trade unions. They will continue to work together to shape and influence the implementation of the m people process in the years ahead.

Manchester City Council has a significant transformation programme which aims to improve services even within reduced resources.

m people is a key part of achieving this transformation and the method by which the council will continue to seek to deliver its aim of no compulsory redundancies.

The Council's Executive Member for Finance and Human Resources, Councillor Bernard Priest said: "We recognise the talent within our workforce and will, through this enhanced process together with related new procedures, further develop our staff's skills so they can continue to deliver the best possible services for the residents of the City.'

"Staff have responded positively to the development of m people and recognise the need for efficiency whilst delivering better services and understand the need to be flexible in order to meet the funding challenges.

Councillor Priest added "I thank the trade unions and the staff for continuing to focus on delivering better services for our residents and am pleased that m people provides a positive model for developing skills and deploying these where they are of most benefit to our communities."

Trade union side secretary Pat McDonagh said 'The trade unions and the council clearly recognise that declared cuts in the funding of public services in the years ahead pose tremendous challenges for us all to deliver the best level of services whilst aiming to avoid compulsory redundancies.

"The work done to develop the m people framework and processes will help us try and achieve our joint objectives on behalf of our members and the residents of our city."