All Eastbourne council staff offered voluntary redundancy in cost cuts

All staff at Eastbourne council have been offered to apply for voluntary redundancy in the latest round of cost cutting due to the coronavirus.
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And the authority also looks set to relocate from its current HQ at 1 Grove Road.

The Covid-19 pandemic has left every UK local authority reviewing how to significantly reduce costs while maintaining frontline services.

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Eastbourne council confirmed this week that on top of cuts within the tourism, theatres and conference departments, all council staff had now been issued with ‘expressions of interest for voluntary redundancy’.

The spokesperson said, “The financial challenges all councils face are exacerbated by central government not fulfilling its commitment to meet the increase in costs and loss of income.

“Our latest forecasts show the increased council expenditure and loss of income as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, amounts to £8.7 million. To date, we have received £1.3 million from government.

“Last week a consultation started on new roles and structures within our tourism and enterprise service area. With our theatres and other tourism services currently closed and no reopening likely in the short-term, the numbers of staff in this area will be reduced.

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“Most regrettably, there are 38 contracted staff and 23 regular casual staff whose roles may be placed at risk of redundancy.

“While the consultation is still running and will now continue to the end of August, we hope to create 10 new posts in the new structure and anticipate some of these being filled by existing staff.

“This week we also invited expressions of interest from any staff who may be interested in voluntary redundancy.

“And like many businesses and other organisations, we are rethinking and reviewing all of our office requirements. With capacity in the Town Hall and other council owned buildings, we are planning to relocate colleagues to different venues over the coming months from the 1 Grove Road offices, in tandem with our continued and extensive use of agile working and the flexible working patterns that have proved so effective during lockdown.

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“The council’s foremost priorities are to deliver a balanced budget and maintain the day-to-day frontline services that residents rely on. Achieving these demands at this time will involve making a number of difficult and painful decisions, but we must do what is necessary to make sure all services continue to be financially viable.”

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