Councils set to axe 10,000 jobs

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Ten Scottish councils expect to cut 10,000 jobs between them over the next few years, a survey by BBC Scotland has revealed.

The figures emerged after BBC Scotland approached all 32 councils in Scotland to ask about anticipated job losses.

Some of the biggest losses are expected in North Ayrshire – which expects to have 1,000 fewer staff – and Glasgow, which confirmed it was on the way to losing 2,800 posts.

None of the councils surveyed said they were planning compulsory redundancies. The local authorities said they hoped the savings would happen through natural turnover, retirement and voluntary redundancy.

Several councils, including Edinburgh, East Lothian and Clackmannanshire, said they planned to reduce staffing costs by 12 per cent over three years but did not confirm specific job figures.

The 32 councils still do not know exactly how much money they will have next year. But they are all anticipating cuts in real terms.

About 80p of every pound they spend comes from the Scottish government although the exact amount varies from council to council.

Meanwhile the Scottish government – which currently gets all its funding from Westminster – has to decide how much it can afford to give councils.

Since the SNP government and councils agreed to freeze the council tax for three years in 2007, the proportion of each council's money which comes from the government has risen. They have received more from the government each year but council tax receipts have been essentially static.