Staff cuts save Dumfries and Galloway Council more than £60m

A reduction in staffing levels on a Scottish local authority has saved it more than £60m in the past five years.

A report to Dumfries and Galloway said its workforce had been cut by more than 10% over that period.

The "significant savings" have been delivered through a range of measures including early retirement and voluntary redundancy.

Councillors will be asked next week to review progress on the workforce strategy which runs until 2020.

It aims to develop a "smaller, more flexibly-skilled workforce for the future".

Vacancies rise

Figures to be taken to the authority show a snapshot of staffing levels in April this year.

At that moment in time there were more than 7,500 positions with the council - a reduction of 11.3% in the past five years.

That translates to 5,373 full-time equivalent posts with a staff headcount of 6,359.

The report also showed there were 330 vacancies on the council - an increase of 56 compared with the previous year.

More than 500 staff left the authority in 2017/18 - a rise of more than 100 on figures for 2016/17.