Middlesbrough Council To Axe 600 Jobs To Save £22M

[TheCountOfNowhere]

"Public services in Middlesbrough face a "nightmare scenario" after cuts totalling £22m were announced by mayor Ray Mallon, a trade union has claimed"

The public secateurs cuts are starting.

[The Masked Tulip]

Most will get pay offs. Some will get very good pay offs. Most will be screwed.

[Sancho Panza]

Gazzette 20/11/13

'

Ray Mallon is tonight announcing 600 job losses as part of almost 40 "savage" cuts to Middlesbrough Council's budget.

Middlesbrough Register Office, the TAD Centre, Middlesbrough Learning and Teaching Centre, and Clairville Stadium will also close as part of the Mayor's council spending cuts.

Mr Mallon will announce the details of the cuts at an extraordinary full council meeting held at Middlesbrough Town Hall tonight.

Here is the full list of where the savings will be made:

Neighbourhoods and communities1. Stop provision of bedding plants for all areas other than Cenotaph, town centre, cemeteries and crematorium saving £100,000.

2. Cease replacement of felled trees saving £15,000.

3. Reduce maintenance of shrubs and hedges from annual to bi-annual saving £35,000

4. Reduce weeding applications from three times a year to twice a year saving £65,000.

5. Halve the frequency of litter picking and street cleansing saving £198,000.

6. Reduce grass cutting and associated works in public open spaces except formal spaces in parks, cemeteries and playing pitches saving £65,000.

7. Invest in vehicle technology that reduces the resources required to undertake road gully cleaning saving £35,000.

8. Terminate subsidy for allotments saving £10,000 and allow allotment holders to manage the asset.

9. Stop maintenance and upkeep of 1 bowling green in Pallister Park and two in Albert Park saving £10,000.

10. Merge parks, Streetscene and cemeteries management saving £100,000.

11. Contract out highways maintenance functions, which will create an efficiency of £600,000 to either help meet the financial gap or for more roads to be maintained.

12. Create a new enforcement service by combining street wardens, parking enforcement officers and council neighbourhood enforcement functions saving £200,000.

13. Stop funding for community councils saving £12,500.

14. Merge operation and management of the five community hubs - libraries as well as other community facilities - saving £348,000.

15. Redesign and contract out homelessness services and welfare and money advice saving £200,000.

16. Implement a new project based service model for Economic Development and Regeneration activity saving £391,000.

17. Merge Ayresome Industries with Streetscene services, which will result in management and accommodation changes, saving £54,000.

18. Close Clairville Stadium saving £104,000.

19. Reduce leisure centre opening hours and reduce staffing levels saving £700,000.

20. Contract out fleet management and vehicle maintenance services saving £156,000.

21. Contract out building cleaning services saving £400,000.

22. Contract out council property services saving £400,000.

23. Merge Environmental Health and Trading Standards management and admin saving £106,000.

(also Merge area care and waste management services saving £60,000)

Wellbeing care and learning

24. Renegotiate joint management costs with Tees Esk and Wear Valley Mental Health Trust saving £100,000.

25. Secure alternative funding for Middlesbrough Intermediate Care Centre saving £165,000.

26. Introduce a new operating model for Adult Social Care to reduce work required by fully qualified social workers saving £579,000.

27. Introduce a new operating model for Childrens' Safeguarding services saving £575,000.

28. Merge Childrens' Centres and Youth Services saving £500,000.

Corporate and Central Services

29. Modernise the way in which back office services are delivered saving £7,800,000.

30. Close Middlesbrough Teaching and Learning Centre saving £145,000.

31. Close the TAD Centre saving £90,000.

32. Close the Register Office and relocate registration of births, marriages and deaths saving £20,000.

33. Close Park House and relocate Childrens' Safeguarding teams saving £30,000.

34. Close the Albert Terrace facility and relocate Families Forward team saving £10,000.

35. Introduce new operating model for the Council Tax, Housing Benefit and Social Fund departments saving £271,000.

36. Introduce system of payments in advance for all council services and greater use of direct debits saving £68,000.

37. Increase number of council services accessed by IT to reduce face to face customer contact saving £75,000.

38. Reduce Trade Union facility time saving £43,000.39. Merge functions that support elected members saving £217,000.'

[TheCountOfNowhere]

What gets me is the 1000 "jobs" that would have been created off the back of Gordon's miracle economy.

Edited November 21, 2013 by TheCountOfNowhere

[Killer Bunny]

Gazzette 20/11/13

'

Ray Mallon is tonight announcing 600 job losses as part of almost 40 "savage" cuts to Middlesbrough Council's budget.

Middlesbrough Register Office, the TAD Centre, Middlesbrough Learning and Teaching Centre, and Clairville Stadium will also close as part of the Mayor's council spending cuts.

Mr Mallon will announce the details of the cuts at an extraordinary full council meeting held at Middlesbrough Town Hall tonight.

Here is the full list of where the savings will be made:

Retain executive salaries and paper pushers

[SarahBell]

"8. Terminate subsidy for allotments saving £10,000 and allow allotment holders to manage the asset."

Bet there's no real saving here.

Councils still need an allotment officer to deal with issues they need to deal with as owners of the land. Setting up leases will cost a fortune for allotment groups, and take lots of officer time to go through who actually owns each bit of land.

Won't eliminate the need for an officer to intervene when eneded.

And who'll train the allotment holders how to deal with health and safety assessment etc? As they'll be responsible for liability insurance on the sites once the leases are signed.

Yes you can let people do what they want because you believe in common sense but sadly there is usually a lacking.

[The Masked Tulip]

Looks like some social workers are going to be fired.

Interested in their almost 8 million saving by modernising back services - IT? Is that firing their own IT staff and outsourcing to a consultancy? Best of luck with that then

[bendy]

22m, 600, 20% NI/tax costs - 30k a piece.

Had to blow the bubbles somehow though I guess.

[tomandlu]

29. Modernise the way in which back office services are delivered saving £7,800,000.

[cashinmattress]

Unfortunately the mind-set, training, and general attitude of public sector workers make them almost entirely incompatible with the private sector. These folk are going to become long term unemployed unless some other gizza-job government job tranche opens.

[richc]

They have a £160 million deficit in their pension plan, and pension benefit payments increased by about £3 million (a 15% increase or so) from last year. They're massively cutting services to fund increases in pension payouts.

They also paid out a bit less than £4 million last year to redundancy packages.

[Democorruptcy]

Didn't they have millions to loan, interest free, to FTBs only last year?

FIRST-TIME house buyers in Middlesbrough could be offered a major boost to get on the housing ladder.

Middlesbrough Council is set to make millions of pounds available as interest-free loans to help people buy their first home.

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/local-news/help-first-time-buyers-middlesbrough-3676020

[Sancho Panza]

They have a £160 million deficit in their pension plan, and pension benefit payments increased by about £3 million (a 15% increase or so) from last year. They're massively cutting services to fund increases in pension payouts.

They also paid out a bit less than £4 million last year to redundancy packages.

Thanks for that.

Is there a source for good data on govt/civil service pension funds/lack thereof?

[Killer Bunny]

Unfortunately the mind-set, training, and general attitude of public sector workers make them almost entirely incompatible with the private sector. These folk are going to become long term unemployed unless some other gizza-job government job tranche opens.

I suspect multi nationals are similar - huge, faceless, systems and processes, don't care about costs

[The Knimbies who say No]

29. Modernise the way in which back office services are delivered saving £7,800,000.

That caught my eye. Way down the list too. I wonder how long the back office has been running in such a poor manner, assuming the savings suggestions are accurate. It wouldn't happen to be the case that high paid execs have been ignoring huge inefficiencies for years?

Still, when you can save £20k on mowing lawns or weedkiller application, what's £8 million between friends, eh?

[The Knimbies who say No]

Didn't they have millions to loan, interest free, to FTBs only last year?

An attempt to get more council tax payers into the borough?

[alexw]

That caught my eye. Way down the list too. I wonder how long the back office has been running in such a poor manner, assuming the savings suggestions are accurate. It wouldn't happen to be the case that high paid execs have been ignoring huge inefficiencies for years?

Still, when you can save £20k on mowing lawns or weedkiller application, what's £8 million between friends, eh?

It could be that or it could be pie in the sky wishful thinking that they can save this much. Thing is, either way it reflects badly on management.

[The Knimbies who say No]

It could be that or it could be pie in the sky wishful thinking that they can save this much. Thing is, either way it reflects badly on management.

Indeed.

[The Masked Tulip]

That caught my eye. Way down the list too. I wonder how long the back office has been running in such a poor manner, assuming the savings suggestions are accurate. It wouldn't happen to be the case that high paid execs have been ignoring huge inefficiencies for years?

Still, when you can save £20k on mowing lawns or weedkiller application, what's £8 million between friends, eh?

Perhaps it will be one of those things where they outsource IT to a consultancy, some of the IT staff are moved over to the consultancy, others fired and some of the middle to senior council managers join the consultancy on fat salaries?

Wouldn't be the first time would it?

[Venger]

An attempt to get more council tax payers into the borough?

To help people afford what the developers want for the houses. £72,500K for an entry level home. Perhaps an apartment?

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/council/middlesbroughcouncil/9506234.Executive_homes_may_solve_housing_issues/r/?ref=rss

When they've been knocking down hundreds of houses? To be replaced by.. more expensive housing, hoping FTBs of Middlesbrough could get HTB or other local debt-schemes to afford?

No wonder you're thinking of emigrating, as the impulse must be strengthening within many younger people, if that's how authorities think it's best to help FTBs buy and stay and have a life = via more debt for housing to pay higher prices.

Although I don't know the full-facts, but many other houses set for demolition have been saved in a U-turn, with grants instead, to help bring them up to better standard (including to landlord owners). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-25025541

Quite impressive these cuts, if they can see them through. Signal they're seeing things differently. Or now urgently having to deal with ugly truths from base reality.

The cuts - on top of more than £40m removed from the council’s budget over the last three years - total more than £67m over the next three years and more than £105m over six years.

[The Knimbies who say No]

To help people afford what the developers want for the houses. £72,500K for an entry level home. Perhaps an apartment?

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/council/middlesbroughcouncil/9506234.Executive_homes_may_solve_housing_issues/r/?ref=rss

When they've been knocking down hundreds of houses? To be replaced by.. more expensive housing, hoping FTBs of Middlesbrough could get HTB or other local debt-schemes to afford?

No wonder you're thinking of emigrating, as the impulse must be strengthening within many younger people, if that's how authorities think it's best to help FTBs buy and stay and have a life = via more debt for housing to pay higher prices.

Although I don't know the full-facts, but many other houses set for demolition have been saved in a U-turn, with grants instead, to help bring them up to better standard (including to landlord owners). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-25025541

Quite impressive these cuts, if they can see them through. Signal they're seeing things differently. Or now urgently having to deal with ugly truths from base reality.

Yes, these schemes to throw cheap money at favoured interest groups like developers should hit the skids as part of the required savings.

Very early days with emigrating thoughts, no harm having a look, but where to go? I like the UK in many ways, might just go to Northern Ireland as at least some value seems to be returning there (said without knowing very much at all about the place, but a 50%+ nominal fall is a decent start, albeit from a very high level it seems).

[Venger]

Yes, these schemes to throw cheap money at favoured interest groups like developers should hit the skids as part of the required savings.

Very early days with emigrating thoughts, no harm having a look, but where to go? I like the UK in many ways, might just go to Northern Ireland as at least some value seems to be returning there (said without knowing very much at all about the place, but a 50%+ nominal fall is a decent start, albeit from a very high level it seems).

Not sure if you returned to the other thread where you mentioned emigration as a possibility to consider, for someone else asked you the 'but where to go' question, with them raising possibility of Germany and Denmark

I was thinking the same too, 'where to go'. Don't know much about NI myself either - some advantages there now for employers, with NI authorities trying to attract tech companies with NI lower costs.

Would have thought you personally could go anywhere, as a young couple, as I've gathered your wife is very clever and quite senior in her position, but especially you with your qualifications... perhaps you even qualifying for a US Genius visa, but US house costs in good areas have also badly reflated with investor money, limiting its appeal.

Just thinking of emigrating has always made me nervous, but economic conditions here, the positive attitude towards high house prices from all the authorities, the denial of anything wrong with house prices as they are, means the idea is also stirring in me. Going to have a read in the overseas forum.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Venger

[payback period]

Interested in their almost 8 million saving by modernising back services - IT? Is that firing their own IT staff and outsourcing to a consultancy? Best of luck with that then

Yes particularly because the success of that project is just over a third of the total savings sought (£7.8m/£22m). If it goes wrong it might not save much or could even cost them money.

I've heard that public sector IT can be so outdated it needs lots of investment to make it acceptable and lower risk for outsourcers.

[Hectors House]

Isn't this happening all round the UK though?

I know Derby City Council staff are under threat of redundancy, looks like Middlesboro were first past the post

[@contradevian]

Retain executive salaries and paper pushers

They would have to spend real money to get rid of them. The riff raff. statutory minimum only.