More than £2.6m claimed by North Yorkshire council to furlough staff

North Yorkshire County Council has claimed more than £2.6million of government cash to furlough its staff during the coronavirus pandemic.

It currently has 460 employees fully or partly furloughed on the government scheme.

At the peak of absences, the council had furloughed nearly 700 workers in traded services. It says it's still facing "significant challenges" and predicts a shortfall of funding of £75m over the next three years.

Gary Fielding, the county council’s corporate director of strategic resources, said the furloughing of staff was only part of the picture of how the authority’s workforce and finances had been impacted by Covid-19.

He said: “This claim for furlough payments should be seen in the context of the county council’s overall additional expenditure as a result of the pandemic. This currently stands at £82m during 2020/21.

“We continue to face significant challenges and predict a shortfall of funding of £75m over the next three years.”

Meanwhile, Harrogate Borough Council has not furloughed any of its staff, although many working in lockdown-hit areas such as leisure have been redeployed into different services.

In total, North Yorkshire County Council employs more than 7,200 staff, excluding school workers, who have been praised by union officials at Unison North Yorkshire for their work to continue delivering key services throughout the pandemic.

Branch secretary Wendy Nichols also said the union had been closely involved in the furlough process and that talks were continuing over the next steps for staff.

“We have a close relationship with the council and have been involved in every step of the furlough process,” she said.

“Those who have stayed in work or been redeployed into different areas have been absolutely fantastic and I don’t think people realise how big a part they’ve played in the pandemic.

“We have had library staff put onto frontline contact centres, cleaners and domestic officers moved into care homes, and some staff working almost non-stop, seven days a week. I really can’t praise them enough.”

Mrs Nichols added: “We are continuing in talks with the council over what will happen for staff on furlough when the scheme ends. Once we come out of the pandemic, we hope it will be business as usual for all our staff and services.”