Author: Sal
200+ Jobs To Go At Isle of Wight Council
Tuesday, 20th January, 2009 at 5:54 pm, Isle of Wight
Business, Community, Island-wide
News has been released from the Isle of Wight Council today that over 200 jobs at the Council will be scrapped over the coming months. Sad news for many employees.
The Isle of Wight Council is not the only local authority affected by the downturn in the economy. It is thought that up to 7,000 LA jobs will be lost across the UK over the coming year.
In their official release, the Isle of Wight Council say ….
The step is to help counter the effects of the credit crunch, to ensure this year’s council tax rise is kept as low as possible and also to help the authority’s ongoing drive to become more efficient. Government under-funding of the national concessionary bus fare scheme leaving the council with a £3.7 million shortfall is another major factor behind the post reduction.
Read the press release in full
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Is this an about way of just cutting services..how can a job position be reliant upon ‘a credit crunch’ in a services organisation. Are they implying that they employ 200 people to many under normal circumstances. if so, have they been wasting our money up until now
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This i.o.w. Conservative Council inherited massive reserves from the previous administration whats gone wrong . As a self employed person I put a bit away for a rainy day well it’s pissing down where has the tax payers money gone.Sorry Gran.
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They will be employing consultants to find out how much they have paid consultants next
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200 staff? You could save that amount by probably sacking 2 council members that do naff all to enhance the community and actually listen to existing staff rather than commission useless consultation.
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“IW Council chief executive Steve Beynon wrote to every staff member this week to explain the measure.”
I take it in his letter, he explained how he would be taking a wage cut down from his stupidly high £150k (or is it £170k?) to a more sensible £30k, in order to keep on an extra 100 workers.
Well done Steve Beynon – We salute you.
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These are people’s jobs we’re talking about here: 205 more Island households will be losing their income. Thanks for all your sympathy guys, it really makes the job worthwhile.
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The project is to put as may services out to the private sector/ consultancy as possible keeping a small commissioning staff directly employed by the council. Look out for Property Services, Car Parks, parts of Highways, Libraries, parts of Chldren’s and Adult services.
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Pinkerton, you forgot to mention schools!
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paul routledge has something to say about the national concessionary bus fare scheme
Reigning in our freedom to travel 16/01/2009
FREE national bus passes for the over-60s have been a runaway success. No wonder they’re trying to put the brakes on them.
We’re accused of blowing a £20million hole in council budgets because we use a privilege we’ve paid for with a lifetime of taxation.
Ministers are said to be wanting to “smooth out the bumpy bits” in the scheme’s £1bn-a-year funding. This sounds suspiciously like reining in our freedom to travel.
Councils were given an extra £212m in the current financial year to fund the passes, but they blame “gallivanting grannies” for making them out of pocket.
I say the blame lies at the garage door of the greedy privatised bus companies.
They want to screw more profits out of the taxpayer.
Ministers should tell these avaricious b*****ds where to get off.
The next stop.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/columnists/routledge/2009/01/16/reigning-in-our-freedom-to-travel-115875-21045476/
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# Drone Says:
Yesterday at 10:36 pm
These are people’s jobs we’re talking about here: 205 more Island households will be losing their income. Thanks for all your sympathy guys, it really makes the job worthwhile.
Hey drone, thats a bit strong…It’s lucky anyone gets jobs here in the first place anyway, so maybe think about all the low income households that already exist (We are the lowest paid region in the south-east). My comment was in defence of the 200. The top echelons always cream the wages. Maybe you should have a word with your boss about sympathy, get their slant on it.
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Seb, I think you are being a bit unfair to the bus companies, yes they have profited since privatisation. However they have put on more buses to meet the massive increase in passengers through the scheme. This scheme is a victim of its own success and hits Councils financially with large numbers of retired residents. The blame should be with the Government who have put the Councils in this position.
On the subject of Council redundancies it is not good for the rest of the Island economy as these jobs were probably resonably paid. If this goes ahead that is probably £2m not circulating in the local economy, I imagine a few more shops on our high streets will be closing in the coming year. Especially as the CP only advertised c70 jobs last Friday.
Some one should be asking what has happened to all the reserves that the Tories inherited.
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steve s
I saw schools as part of Children’s Services.
Although you are right schools are largely funded separately and the new secondary competitions, if they happen, will follow much the same process as I was indicating.
I think we should expect a council in future which just acts as a customer and provides few services itself.
Because of the speed at which redundancies are being demanded some of this may be in place before the election as with the national privatisation of rail services. What no one knows is how far negotiations have gone with the private sector.
I see that today theatres and leasure facilities are going to suffer.
I agree with Earl Grey that these and future redundancies are bad news for the Island as a whole.
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how quick certain people are to forget the economic forces and short term illogical greed that underlined the credit crunch and suddenly currency speculation(the major international bankers must be delighted in further strengthening their ’stranglehold’ on access and control of the already limited independance of national govt.s to the demands of supra national financial and energy asset players and institutions, it would now seem inevitable that joining the euro and further enlargement of the eu’s integration of our limited independence is more likely or a done deal), is the focus of the sheep to suddenly blame, political dogma masking avarice has long been present and excused by many with an interest to do so but spending public money and ‘thrift’ ,merely, is more of the same, however IWC job cuts in the amount stated is scandalous given that well over 60% of the Island work force is employed in the public sector, surely it is far better socially and economically to keep jobs than further stoke the recession and stifle local demand. Remember these are people with families and servicing the public sector engages a major slice of the remaining private sector employment and trades- the island local economy is to a large extent interdependent mirroring the wider macro picture.Cutting jobs will have a knock on effect and is a simplistic and dogmatic short term insular measure that logically will have counterproductive consequences and far greater economic costs.
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Bluntly put- those 200 jobs are 200 real people if they have families, by a couple with 2.4 children yardstick as an average, thats 900 people directly affected then there are direct relatives and the logistical support and trades of supply to those 200 when in IWC employment – that’s possibly another 1000+ people directly affected and that compounds by a knock on effect to your local buisness or company as a result of reduced demand, – this in turn raises the effect on direct people, whether , young or elderely that may need those services withdrawn by consequence of those job cuts- impacting further along the chain. Stress, health , housing and unemployment and re-employment training or enforced redundancy all have further direct consequences. Those insurances and savings schemes, h.p., car or mortgages and contents agreements may have to be cancelled- so thats the supply side service sector affected.
As the Island is a small place, most of us will know somebody affected now or in 2 months time(if these jobs not protected), now when you meet that person in the street you then look him or her in the eye and go on about ‘holier than thou ’saving’s-because i’m all right jack(at the moment…), council overspends and schemes then!
As the saying goes, ‘no man is an Island’.
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