Words by Jacob Morgan
Birmingham City Council has presented workers with a “crazy” new voluntary redundancy package, whilst it grapples with massive cuts – as part of a recently approved budget that will see the largest local authority in Britain withdraw £300m from public services.
Birmingham City Council (BCC) employees were offered voluntary redundancies last August, under its Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme (MARS).
However, after many calculated their MARS settlements and agonised over the decision whether to leave or stay from their jobs, the Council withdrew the offer in a last minute U-turn – as Erdington Local reported last November.
But Erdington Local can now reveal, BCC employed workers were recently sent an email about forthcoming redundancies with a “lower settlement” – which the Council acknowledged could run into 600 jobs being lost.
A Council spokesman confirmed: “We anticipate that (subject to consultation) up to 600 posts may be declared redundant across the council.”
Workers in children’s services, the youth service, SEND provision, the careers service, and other departments earmarked for budget cuts, have begun to receive voluntary redundancy offers that are seen as “lower” than last year’s MARS scheme.
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson further confirmed the new round of voluntary redundancies.
They told: “A targeted voluntary redundancy scheme has been opened to employees working within services that are seeing proposals for workforce reductions or changes, as a result of the budget savings that the council is having to make.
“The voluntary redundancy scheme and proposed payment arrangements are enhanced from the statutory minimum for voluntary redundancy payments.”
A Council employee, who has more than 15 years service, told Erdington Local they have received another voluntary redundancy offer which has left “a bad taste in the mouth”.
He added: “I just do not trust the Council anymore. Last year I spent weeks really thinking hard whether I want to be part of what is going to be left after all these cuts.
“I love my job, I work with some amazing but vulnerable youngsters, and can see the difference I make. But where I work could close… so what is the point of staying?
“Also, I spent ages looking at the settlement I was offered under MARS and what that could mean for my immediate future.
He added: “However, just as I was about to submit my voluntary redundancy submission they scrapped MARS. I really, really, really resent the amount of time I wasted thinking it about. They are playing with people’s lives – I that’s what so annoying.
“And now, just a few months later, I have got another voluntary redundancy offer, with a lower settlement.
“I am getting out of this organisation, which is run by people who do not care about the work their employees do.”
Unite regional officer for Birmingham Council, Lee Wiggetts-Clinton, said: “This is a tremendously uncertain time for all staff at Birmingham (City) Council, one thing they can guarantee is that Unite will always have the backs of its members.
“It is crazy at the moment. I did not like MARS. And I don’t like these lower settlements offered. Obviously, defending on people’s circumstances, a voluntary offer could work.
“But I am telling members, tell them to shove their voluntary offers where the sun don’t shine – wait for the bounty of compulsory.”
The voluntary redundancy controversy comes after the HR expert brought into deal with the personnel problems at Birmingham City Council was himself not kept in post, arguably with questions still left to answer about the more widespread financial issues facing the city.
Interim Director of Human Resources and Organisation Development, Darren Hockaday, was reportedly costing taxpayers between £1,200 and £1,500 a day – which is the equivalent of at least £350,000 a year and a much higher annual salary than that of the Birmingham City Council Chief Executive, who earned around £260,000 per year.
Mr Hockaday leftt Birmingham City Council November 2023 after his contact was not renewed – despite the financial crisis gripping the city, and his role as a key city officer responsible for HR of over around 12,000 Council employees.
Reports from other local media have also cited a Council initiated investigations from solicitors Browne Jackson into allegations that individuals at Birmingham City Council “might have failed to abide by ‘the Nolan principles’ that govern public life, including acting with integrity and honesty.”
