Staff at Birmingham City Council, Europe’s largest local authority, have been warned the authority ‘cannot employ people for the sake of it’.
The statement, made at a cabinet meeting by Cllr Alan Rudge, who holds Birmingham’s human resources portfolio, follows news last week that 1,300 staff are at risk of redundancy.Cllr Rudge and his colleagues have begun a full review of the council’s employment policy amid declining revenues caused by the recession.
City leaders last week warned local government trade unions that “section 188 notices” were being issued to 1,300 staff – a legal requirement when posts are considered for redundancy. Most of the staff at risk work across the city’s social and leisure services.
Cllr Rudge said: ‘Those subject to the review are at risk and there are possibilities of job reductions in these areas.’
