Job cuts on the cards for Croydon Council (From Croydon Guardian)

Council announces 149 jobs could be cut to help balance the books

8:00am Friday 9th December 2011 in News By Nick Hitchens

Job cuts on the cards for Croydon Council

Croydon council has announced it could cut almost 150 jobs as part of budget cuts aimed at saving more than £43m in the next three years.

Documents to go before Cabinet on Monday December 12 recommend the council cut 149 jobs, the majority in the children, learning and families department, in an attempt to cut about £25 million from its 2012/13 budget while also freezing council tax.

The axe will fall on 88 posts in the children, learning and families department, 22 from planning and environment, 19 from the corporate sector and 13 from corporate resources and customer services.

The reduction must be made after central government reduced its contribution to the council by 8.3 per cent, with further reductions of 1 per cent and 6.5 per cent predicted in following years.

Dudley Mead, cabinet member for housing, finance and asset management said: “Once cabinet has passed these measures I expect redundancies to begin. I think by now no one is under any illusion about the financial climate both here and around the world.”

He said changes in management structures and the removing of tiers of managers would account for many jobs, pointing to the reduction of the number of council directors from seven to four since the Conservatives took the council.

Other areas of cost reduction will come in efficiencies and looking at increasing income with schemes such as increasing parking permit costs and cutting subsidy to pest control.

Proposed cuts include taking £200,000 from the council’s voluntary sector grants, 260,000 from the closure of a residential home and more than half a million from cuts to the Arts and Heritage budget.

Coun Mead said the council would also be looking at new income raising measures to help deal with the loss in government funding.

The budget suggests more than a quarter of a million could be made by raising car parking fines, and £210,000 from increasing pay and display while almost 100,000 could come from increasing burial and cremation fees.

Coun Mead said: “If you compare with neighbouring borough you will see our parking permits are still lower. Burial fees are an emotive issue. Our borough team are very good at gauging the right level to make sure we are competitive in our charges.”