County council staff invited to apply for redundancy

West Sussex County Council employees have been invited to apply for redundancy.
Chichester's County Hall SUS-160818-125926001Chichester's County Hall SUS-160818-125926001
Chichester's County Hall SUS-160818-125926001

The only exception to the voluntary scheme is those working in schools, but staff will only be able to leave if there is no detrimental effect on frontline services.

According to the county council the authority must ‘continuously look at ways of working and that includes how our services are staffed’.

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UNISON has raised several concerns with the ‘voluntary severance window’ on its website, arguing that if redundancy requests are approved without sufficiently considering the consequences to services and those who remain ‘staff could come under severe and unsustainable pressure at work’.

A spokesman for the county council said: “Across the country local government is facing significant challenges and West Sussex County Council is no different.

“We know if we are going to continue to meet the needs of our residents we must continuously look at ways of working and that includes how our services are staffed.

“We have proposed this voluntary scheme to work with our staff to seek opportunities to release staff and protect the frontline services for our residents.

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Proposals from staff will not be agreed if there is a detrimental effect on frontline services.

“Voluntary severance is available to any member of staff employed by West Sussex County Council, with the exception of staff employed within our schools.

“There is not a ‘target figure’ for how many people should be made redundant or how much money should be saved through this scheme.

“Staff are being encouraged to speak to their line manager if they have any questions or concerns about the scheme.”