400 jobs to be axed as Hull Council makes cuts of £48m

Although the Government claims Hull Council is facing a reduction in spending power of just over five per cent, the authority says the reality is a reduction of around 23 per cent in core funding.

Deputy leader Coun Daren Hale confirmed rumours that hundreds of jobs will go, and said: “We have worked out that it would be approximately 396 full-time equivalents, purely as a result in reductions in the budget, which comes on top of significant budget reductions last year.

“A number of posts are already vacant and we would hope the large majority will go as a result of voluntary early termination.”

About 60 posts will be axed after protracted negotiations with the unions over terms and conditions, which have seen staff balloted on three occasions, ended in £1.2m less being saved than was originally anticipated. Services across the board including adult social care, children’s services and streetscene, face cuts.

The mobile library service faces the axe, and opening times are under review at libraries, leisure services and museums. Residents also face over inflation rises in charges in the New Year, and could face charges for services which were previously free.

Coun Hale said: “It is probably service reductions [that we are looking at] rather than wholesale closures.”

City treasurer Brendan Arnold said they were still reviewing detailed information supplied by the Government but it confirmed their own forecasts that new savings of £48m would be needed to balance the 2014/15 and 2015/16 budgets.

In the past three years around 1,200 jobs have been axed at the council, including 158 full-time equivalents this year from its business support section.