Top official denies 2,000 Kirklees Council jobs will go

Sep 22 2009 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A TOP official has denied that 2,000 council workers will be made redundant.

Kirklees director of human resources Cliff Stewart said yesterday that the figure would be much lower.

Last week the Examiner reported that up to 2,000 of the council’s 11,000-strong workforce could lose their jobs as Kirklees cuts its budget by 20% over five years.

But Mr Stewart said efficiency savings meant that fewer people would have to go.

He said: “Historically, a 1% budget reduction has meant the loss of 100 staff. The difference now is that we’re looking to save money by efficiencies rather than cutting services.

“I think 2,000 job losses is too high a figure. It will be many hundreds, but I can’t be more specific than that.”

Mr Stewart said Kirklees would try to avoid compulsory redundancies – but the drop in staff turnover would make this difficult.

He said: “Staff turnover is normally 10% but it’s down to 5% this year and I think it will stay at that level for quite a while. People are far more cautious about moving jobs – it’s a natural thing but it’s not always good for the individual or the economy.

“It will make it more difficult to achieve the reductions without compulsory redundancies but we still think we can do it.”