Kirklees Council staff consider strike to protest against hundreds of redundancies

The council announced earlier this month it plans to cut jobs, after senior councillors decided to restrict all spending deemed “non-essential” in a bid to plug a substantial funding gap.

After recording a £27m budget overspend last year, council chiefs say that if it continues spending at the current rate, it will need to use almost all of its reserves (£47.1m) to balance the books in 2023/24.

Trade union Unison said it is balloting its members on strike action after the council announced it is planning to make 250 staff redundant by March 2024. The union fears it will cut 750 jobs overall.

Robin Symonds, a regional organiser for the union, said: “The council’s plans will decimate local services, and force a huge number of people into unemployment.

"The authority hasn’t even told Unison which services will be affected, and which jobs will be cut.

“Voluntary redundancies have been ruled out and no details have been given on what policies the council intends to follow.

“The early response to the indicative ballot has been very encouraging, with over 400 votes cast in the first morning alone.

“The proposed redundancies are phase one of 750 job cuts planned by the council. It’s a very uncertain time for staff who continue to deliver public services.”

The Labour-run council has warned it will need to issue a Section 114 notice, effectively declaring itself bankrupt, unless it can cut costs and find savings.

The council has blamed inflation, claiming the cost of caring to elderly people, supporting children with special educational needs and providing schools with all of the equipment they need has soared.

Councillor Graham Turner, cabinet member responsible for finance, said: “We are doing everything we can to avoid redundancies.

“That is why we have introduced spending controls across the organisation, reduced recruitment, are rationalising our assets, councillors have proposed to cut their allowances, and we continue to work on further proposals for savings.”

Councillor Cathy Scott has been appointed as acting leader of the council following the resignation of Shabir Pandor, and Steve Mawson became the new chief executive earlier this week.

Local authorities across the country, which are required to set balanced budgets, have been struggling with inflation, soaring energy prices and the rising cost of providing care to vulnerable people.

The Government said councils are responsible for managing their own finances but their “core spending power”, which includes council tax revenue, increased by £5.1bn in 2023/24.

But the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned councils still need almost £3bn of additional funding to pay for services over the next two years.

A handful of councils have gone bankrupt in recent years, including Croydon and Woking, but several others have needed government bailouts to stay afloat.