Coronavirus: Oldham Council seeks voluntary redundancies

Councillor Sean Fielding said asking people to take redundancy was not a decision the council took lightly

Oldham Council staff are being asked to consider taking voluntary redundancy as it deals with a "budget challenge" it says has been made worse by Covid-19.

Two-thirds of a £30m funding gap was blamed on coronavirus, while the council also pointed to a £215m cut in government grants over 10 years.

The council said it was told to spend "whatever it needed" during Covid-19.

The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said councils were receiving "unprecedented support".

Oldham Council said the funding it had received so far from central government did not cover the costs of providing additional support to residents and businesses during the pandemic, combined with a substantial loss in income.

From Monday, staff will be asked to consider applying for voluntary redundancy.

Other cost-saving measures, including working fewer hours or "buying" extra holiday time, are also being encouraged by the Labour-run local authority.

'Challenging'

Council leader Sean Fielding said everyone at the council had "gone above and beyond to ensure we have been there" for Oldham residents.

He added: "They've been there to collect waste and recycling, to take calls on our emergency helpline, provide emergency food parcels to those most isolated and more."

Mr Fielding said asking staff to consider redundancy was "not a decision that has been made lightly and not what any of us would wish".

"However, we have to explore all options for saving money due to the scale of the budget challenge we face," he added.

Mr Fielding said he urged the government to ensure local authorities receive "fair funding in these most challenging of times".

In a statement, the MHCLG said Oldham had received more than £16.6m in emergency funding during the coronavirus outbreak.

"Additionally, they have also received funding of £2.3m from the Infection Control Fund, £1.6m from the Test and Trace Support Grant, and a total of over £105m across government for the council, businesses and communities in the area," the statement said.

It added that the government was introducing a scheme to compensate councils for loss of income due to the pandemic.

"For relevant losses of sales, fees and charges, over and above the first 5% of planned income, we're covering 75p in the pound for revenue they haven't been able to generate in areas including parking fees and museum entry," it said.

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