No mass exodus of essential staff - council leader

The Conservative leader Adam Brown has accused the Labour group of being "deeply irresponsible"

A Conservative council leader has accused the Labour opposition of "scaremongering" about the effects of a redundancy trawl.

West Northamptonshire Council announced this week that workers were being invited to consider taking voluntary redundancy or early retirement to save money.

The opposition Labour group said the council "cannot afford a large-scale departure of essential workers".

Council leader Adam Brown said the "scaremongering" was "deeply irresponsible".

The council is facing a shortfall of £72m by 2026 - about 8% of its current annual budget which was set at £889.5m for 2024-25.

It wrote to its 2,584 staff this week to ask them to consider voluntary redundancy, flexible retirement or reduced working hours.

Wendy Randall, the leader of the Labour group, said: "Lots of our services are stretched as it is... what we really cannot afford now is a large scale departure of essential workers."

Mr Brown said: "If the Labour leadership had bothered to engage with those who know the detail behind this scheme they would have been made aware that redundancies will only be progressed based on business needs.

"It is an abdication of the Nolan principles of public life to make these sorts of public statements when nothing within our plans supports the allegations being made."

The Labour group leader Wendy Randall said the council was "top heavy" with 27 assistant directors

Labour also said that there had been "an embarrassing employee turnover rate" since 2021, when the council was created to replace the county and district council two-tier structure.

It said the unitary council was "top heavy" with "27 assistant directors all earning upwards of £90,000".

Mr Brown responded: "This is sheer fiction, our employee turnover of 9.5% is significantly below the national average and our previous turnover rates were also well in line with expectations.

"This charge, as with many others, reflects the disorganised and opportunistic way in which the Labour group approaches opposition.

"The number of assistant directors that we have closely aligns with other upper tier local authorities, confirmed by a recent informal mini survey, and we have also recently seen reductions in the budget for assistant directors."

Ms Randall said the Labour group stood by the comments it made earlier this week.

"We are disappointed the leader of the council has taken such issue with our concerns.

"It is the role of the opposition to scrutinise the decisions of the administration and we cannot be expected to stand by as such a critical decision is made.

"Experience will be lost through this scheme regardless of the numbers who take it up."