As part of a planned financial strategy to reduce the running costs of South Ayrshire Council a total of 29 employees have accepted “voluntary severance” deals.

The Council’s Policy and Resources Committee has been provided with details of the number of ‘leavers’ and told that on-going savings that are expected to be gained by the Council, despite the immediate financial on-costs that have been required.

In response to a formal question by Councillor Gibson T Macdonald asking: “What is cumulative number of employees given ‘voluntary severance’ since January,” the meeting was provided with the details: 26 employees in General Services and 3 employees in the Housing Revenue Account.

The cost to the Council for “releasing” the two sets of employees was detailed as £1,056,422 with ongoing costs of £46,186 for General Services Employees leaving, and £197,705 with ongoing costs of £7,888 for Housing Revenue Account staff members leaving.

It was pointed out, however, that only £616,453 of the total General Services costs required to be funded from the £971,000 set aside as part of the 2005/06 budget, as the balance is being funded from Departmental under-spends in 2004/05; and the Housing Revenue Account costs of £197,705 would be funded from the 2004/05 Revenue Surplus.

Explained Councillor Andy Hill, Leader of South Ayrshire Council, and Convener of the Policy and Resources Committee: “The financial benefit for the Council is in the future savings that will accrue annually from the non-replacement of the staff members who have left. This will clearly build into far greater savings for the benefit of the Council than the amount we are paying to allow the staff members to go.”

Arrangements for a “trawl” of possible volunteers among specified sections of Council staff to accept redundancy terms was made following the Council’s budget earlier this year.

At the time it was made clear that, in order to maintain the Council tax level at that which was set, the Council required to identify efficiency savings of more than £6 million. Included within this figure was a requirement to reduce employee costs by at least £1 million.

Said Councillor Hill : “It has proved inevitable that this has meant a reduction in jobs, but we have done everything possible to minimise the effect on front line services.”

May 2005