COUNCIL workers were left fuming after councillors voted to slash their redundancy payments by more than half.
Calderdale Council employees were hit with a double blow when the council’s governance and business committee voted to cut the maximum redundancy payout from 104 weeks to 52 weeks – and cap weekly payouts at £500. The decision means certain employees with 20 or more years’ service will have their redundancy halved – if they earn more than £500 per week and have served 20 years for Calderdale Council.
For example, someone with full service on £700 a week could have hoped to have received around £70,000 in their final settlement.
That would be whittled down to around £26,000 under the new plans.
The decision, which will affect half of Calderdale’s 9,000 employees, must be approved by Businesses Minister Vince Cable.
Next week Calderdale Council is expected to announce how many redundancies it will be making as part of its upcoming budget.
Estimates currently stand at 1,000 jobs and unions representing council workers, including Calderdale NUT, Unison, Unite and GMB, accused the council of being ‘heartless’.
Calderdale NUT leader Sue McMahon said: “It was disgraceful that a decision was made without the financial implications being brought to the meeting.”
