Hundreds at beleagured council express interest in redundancy

Around 400 people have expressed an interest in taking voluntary redunancies

Hundreds of staff at Somerset Council have put thier name forward for voluntary redundancy, as it seeks to make savings of £40m in the next year.

The authority declared a financial emergency in 2023, saying it needed to plug a £100m hole on its balance sheet, as a result of increased costs in running services.

It also passed measures earlier this year that saw cuts of around £35m.

It is thought about 1,000 people could lose their jobs at the council before the end of the new financial year in 2025.

Council taking 'difficult decisions'

In a statement, Somerset Council said: "The financial emergency facing councils across the country is well documented and in Somerset we have needed to take many difficult decisions to bridge a funding gap of £100m for 2024/25.

"This includes a top-to-bottom restructure of the council to reduce the size of the organisation, while ensuring we can continue to deliver essential services and serve the best interests of our residents and communities.

"The voluntary redundancy scheme is the first part of the much larger and ongoing improvement and transformation programme to help close the budget gap for 2025/26.

"We received 372 applications, and these will reviewed over the next few weeks before decisions are taken on whether the impacted posts can or cannot be removed the council’s structure."

Union 'sceptical'

A staff representative for trade union Unison told BBC Radio Somerset they broadly supported the window given for voluntary redundancies, but added they were sceptical of a potential restructuring of the organisation in the Autumn.

They also said job roles such as engineers, housing offers and planners had been excluded from the process, and they were hoping to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies.

They added the council is not a happy place to work at the moment.