Somerset Council restructure sees 290 redundancies

Somerset Council said it was protecting vital services during a "financial emergency"

Somerset Council has made 292 members of staff redundant over the past financial year - with more than 80 of those being compulsory, it has emerged.

In April, 555 full time posts were cut from the local authority as part of a major restructuring exercise.

The move was made to stop Somerset Council going bust and to reduce duplication after five councils merged to form the unitary authority two years ago.

Unison said members were concerned about how some services would now operate while Somerset Council said it was protecting vital services during a "financial emergency".

The total number of compulsory redundancies was revealed in a report to the council's executive about the progress of the authority's Improvement and Transformation Programme.

As of the last day of March, 81 people were recorded as being made compulsorily redundant, 40 voluntarily.

The figures were in addition to the 171 people who took voluntary redundancy last year.

Cutting 555 full-time posts equated to an 11% reduction in Somerset Council's workforce and was expected to save the local authority £34m.

But Somerset Council said the number of people being made redundant had been reduced by natural wastage and staff taking up vacant positions.

It said 69 staff at risk of redundancy had found alternative employment within Somerset Council.

Some 30 roles were devolved to town and parish councils.

'Uncertainty'

Micheál Duffy the secretary of Unison Somerset Local Government & Community Branch said the redundancies would have a "significant impact" on Somerset Council.

He described morale among remaining staff as "quite low".

Mr Duffy is calling on the local authority to provide clarity on how some services would continue to operate.

He said: "People have concerns about their workload, their workload increasing as a result of these redundancies, and uncertainty about how some services are going to continue to operate".

The leader of Somerset Council Bill Revans has previously said the authority would try to maintain a high quality service with fewer resources.

In a statement Somerset Council said it was protecting vital services during a "financial emergency".

It said the rising cost of social care and a reduction in funding from central government were factors "out of our control" and acknowledged that "morale has sometimes been understandably low through this period of rapid and extensive change".

It added: "Our focus now is to set a positive vision for the future that will be delivered through continued engagement with our workforce. This important work will be taking place through 2025 and will be ongoing."

'Broken system'

Speaking on BBC Radio Somerset back in February, the leader of Somerset Council Bill Revans said that the authority would try to maintain a high quality service with fewer resources.

He said inevitably there would be an impact on services, but blamed what he called a "broken system" of funding local government.

The council's restructuring programme has been described by officers as the "key" to to closing the £66m budget gap this year and supporting long-term financial stability of the local authority.

The new council structure became effective from 1 April and the restructure programme was due to be completed by the end of June 2025.