Over 100 council staff told they face losing their jobs two weeks before Christmas
It comes as the council tries to make savings ahead of next year's budget
Last updated 13th Dec 2024
It is understood that over 100 members of staff at Cornwall Council have been told they face losing their jobs. The workers were given notice of redundancy consultation just two weeks before Christmas.
The job losses have been announced by the cash-strapped council in a bid to save £48.6m as part of the draft revenue budget for 2025/26, which was approved by the local authority’s Conservative Cabinet on November 13.
A spokesperson for the council said: “Cornwall Council, like local authorities across the country, faces financial challenges, and is having to make choices that are lawful, deliverable but in no way desirable to produce a balanced budget for 2025/26.
“Every effort has been made to minimise the impact on employees but sadly, this difficult process does mean a small percentage of jobs may be at risk within the organisation. Where possible we are restricting external recruitment, and will look at redeploying staff in suitable roles before anyone has to leave the organisation through redundancy.
“Those staff in affected roles are being supported through the process and we are engaging with the trade unions.”
We have seen a consultation letter which has been received by all affected staff. It states: “These savings are necessary as, across the sector, the main issues are a rise in demand (numbers of people accessing services), ever increasing costs of services (due to inflationary pressures), with the additional resources available (through extra council tax, business rates and fees and charges) not being enough to meet these pressures. This inevitably means that the council has to reduce costs to be able to balance the budget and live within its means.
“Services where tasked to identify ways of achieving a balanced budget and the proposals submitted were a mixture of service reduction and efficiencies, contract and commission management, workforce proposals, increasing income and managing demand.”
Staff will undergo a 45-day formal consultation with five days extra for the Christmas break. Employees will be eligible for redeployment status if they have completed more than two years’ continuous service with Cornwall Council.
The redundancy consultation will be completed by April 1, 2025 in line with the next financial year’s budget, hence the unfortunate announcement just before Christmas to allow for the necessary period of consultation.