Up to 500 jobs may go as council saves £37m

HUNDREDS of jobs will be cut from one of Yorkshire’s largest councils under plans approved to slash budgets by £37m in the next financial year.

As many as 500 posts are due to be lost from North Yorkshire County Council’s 6,000-strong workforce in the battle to balance budgets.

More job losses are expected among the 18,000 staff in schools, although exact numbers have yet to be finalised.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Councillors agreed the authority’s budget during a meeting at County Hall in Northallerton yesterday that approved savage funding cutbacks. Adult social care will see a £7m reduction, children’s services will lose £8m while the highways department’s budget will fall by £6m.

But members pushed ahead with plans to freeze council tax rates to provide a much-needed financial respite for householders. The bill for an average band D property will remain at £1,057.48.

The council is having to draw on up to £5m from its reserves to counter cutbacks in government funding as it is faced with making £69m in savings up until 2015. But the majority of the cuts are having to be enforced in the first two financial years.

The council’s finance director, John Moore, said: “We are attempting to provide a focused approach without a knee-jerk reaction. But the council, like all local authorities, will have very different aspirations in five years time.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, proposals to charge special needs students for home to school transport were dropped.

Under-threat libraries were also given a 12-month stay of execution to give more time for volunteers to take on the running of up to 23 sites that could be shut.