Council’s staff win 
£430,000 
payout over 
job changes

The 541 Doncaster Council workers, who received on average just under £800, said their pay had been wrongly handled during changes to terms and conditions which were implemented last May.

The authority had initially given notice that it intended to terminate the contracts of 9,941 staff and re-employ them under different terms and conditions.

It said cuts to staff pay of four per cent – targeting those earning more than £15,000 a year – would help it to save £7.5m.

However it pressed ahead with cuts up to 2.5 per cent, varied according to pay range and starting at one per cent for those earning above £14,733.

Officers insisted the move would safeguard full-time jobs and set a deadline of last April 20 for staff to accept new contracts which also included cuts to benefits such as car mileage and overtime reductions.

But unions claimed the authority was guilty of bullying and began action to make employment tribunal claims for those who had refused to sign and faced losing their jobs.

Members of Unison, the GMB and Unite were also balloted on strike action last May, but, overall, voted for action short of a walk-out.

Unison regional manager Chris Jenkinson said yesterday that a culture of “we know best” and “an arrogant refusal to listen to the correct advice” had flourished under the administration of the former Mayor Peter Davies.

But Doncaster Council said the settlement, which avoids having to go to an employment tribunal, amounted to less than a tenth of what the unions had originally claimed.

Chief Executive Jo Miller, said: “The council has always maintained that it had the right to make the changes and that they were fair and reasonable given the scale of cuts we faced.

“We can now move forward as we have a huge task ahead of us.

“The changes to terms and conditions helped the council achieve £4.8m of needed year-on-year savings and at the same time safeguarded about 200 jobs and protected frontline services.”