Bolton Council has spent less on making staff redundant over the most recent year than ever before since records began. The council made around 60 people redundant in the year leading up to March 2024, at a total cost of around £746,000. But leader Cllr Nick Peel says that despite recent cuts to the authority’s budget they have avoided making any of these redundancies’ compulsory.
Cllr Peel said: “We’ve always had a long stated policy of voluntary early severance and then moving staff around to fill vital positions, which has sustained us all throughout austerity.” He added: “Clearly this depends on people wanting to take voluntarily early severance and there is still a cost to be paid. Council all around the country have had to pay out on redundancies (Image: Newsquest) “But for us, voluntarily early severance has always been politically and morally preferable to compulsory redundancies.
“That is something we have always fought and will continue to do so.” Cllr Peel said that as far as he was aware no compulsory redundancies had been made by the council in recent times. This came despite around £11M worth of cuts having been agreed at Bolton Council's most recent budget meeting in February.
The figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government showed that each redundancy had cost Bolton Council an average of around £12,000 over 2023-24. But the total cost of £746,000 was down significantly from the total of £1.2M the year before and the lowest figure since records began in 2014-15.
It also went against the grain nationally, where the same figures found that councils spent just under £200M around the country in the year up to March. This was up from £183M the year before and the first rise since 2016-17. ALSO READ: Bolton's council tax to RISE and CUTS to services set in stone after approval ALSO READ: More than £43M owed in unpaid council tax in Bolton - The areas which owe the most ALSO READ: Report reveals overspend on child services by Bolton Council A Local Government Association spokesperson said: "The number of people working in local government has reduced in size over the last decade as councils continue to face significant financial pressures.
"In this context, councils make decisions based on their contractual and legal responsibilities when determining the level of severance or settlement payments made to their employees. "Councils need adequate funding and longer-term certainty to meet rising costs and demand pressures and avoid more redundancies. "This will also prevent exacerbating an already acute capacity crisis in some areas, with more than nine in 10 councils experiencing staff recruitment and retention difficulties.
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