Council outlines voluntary severance proposals

Manchester City Council is set to propose a voluntary severance package for members of staff to help it deal with the massive spending cuts imposed by central government.

The Council has been hit particularly badly by the government cuts and is amongst the worst five-hit councils in the country with huge savings of £110m required over the next year.
 
The headline figure for the cuts has been given as 8.9%, but in reality the scale of the cuts is 25% over the next two years.
 
The Council has to date pledged to avoid compulsory redundancies, and aims to maintain that commitment.
 
However, the scale and severity of the cuts means that the Council will have to reduce its workforce quickly. It has therefore drawn up a report that promotes voluntary early retirement and voluntary severance.
 
The Council will need to see its workforce reduce quickly by about 2,000 staff (about 17% of the workforce).
 
Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: "The unfairness of the government's financial grant settlement for Manchester, one of the five worst in the country, has been widely reported. 
 
"We now have to find £110m in savings next year - £60m more than expected - because of front-loading and the re-distribution of money from Manchester to more affluent areas. 
 
"The accelerated cuts mean we can no longer achieve the staffing reductions we have been forced into through natural turnover which is why we are proposing a time-limited offer of voluntary severance and voluntary early retirement. 
 
"At the same time we will continue to invest through our m people employee programme to improve the skills and the productivity of the majority of our staff who will stay with us."
 
The up-front cost to the Council of this package, which is subject to approval by the Council's Executive on 19 January, is likely to be in the region of £60m - but it will generate an annual saving of £70m.

At the same time the Council will continue to invest in its staff by developing the "m people" process. M people wherever possible matches the skills of the existing workforce to roles where staff can make the biggest impact in improving services.

M people has been developed through a partnership of the Council leadership and management together with the trade unions.