Staff at Dorset CC have agreed to change their job terms and conditions to help ease the county’s budget problems – while Nottingham City Council has offered staff a choice of more holidays but lower pay.
The two initiatives are the latest examples of a range of different local authority approaches to find savings and ease pressures on council budgets by changing staff pay and conditions. Birmingham, Southampton and Shropshire have drawn up more controversial plans for pay cuts, which have been opposed by staff.
Managers and staff at Dorset agreed a package of changes after a ballot of trade unions. They will come into effect on 1 January and will help the council achieve annual savings of £1.03m over the next three years.
Dorset leader Angus Campbell said: ‘We have to look at all areas of expenditure, but we hope these changes will mean fewer redundancies than would otherwise have been necessary.’
Nottingham expects to save almost £154,000 from an innovative ‘Holiday plus’ scheme which gives staff an option on reducing their monthly salary to gain extra holiday with the cost being spread out over 12 months.
Already 261 employees have opted into the scheme.
