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Lancashire County Council plans to axe 2,500 jobs | Lancashire County Council plans to axe 2,500 jobs |
(about 2 hours later) | |
About 2,500 full-time jobs are to go at Lancashire County Council because of budget cuts, the authority has said. | |
The staff cuts are expected to come into force by April 2016. | The staff cuts are expected to come into force by April 2016. |
Lancashire County Council leader Jennifer Mein said the authority would do "everything" to avoid compulsory redundancies. | |
She said she was "absolutely devastated" but it was the "harsh reality" of the £300m of savings it needed to make over four years. | |
'Significant posts' | 'Significant posts' |
The Labour councillor said: "It is heartbreaking to think there are 2,500 families that are going to be affected by this. | The Labour councillor said: "It is heartbreaking to think there are 2,500 families that are going to be affected by this. |
"We have had to be sensible about it; we are being asked to reduce our budget by £800m to £500m and I think most people would understand that it won't be achieved without significant posts being lost. | |
"My hope is that enough people will choose to go on a voluntary basis and our proposed approach has that outcome in mind." | |
Ms Mein said the number of job cuts would leave a "big hole" in services. | Ms Mein said the number of job cuts would leave a "big hole" in services. |
"We are going to have to reshape our services completely," she said. | "We are going to have to reshape our services completely," she said. |
"What we are trying to do is protect services as far as we possibly can to the most vulnerable people." | |
The Department for Communities and Local Government said the coalition government had delivered a "fair settlement" and Lancashire's 2.6% was less than the national average of 3.1%. | |
In a statement, a spokesman said: "Every bit of the public sector needs to do their bit to pay off the budget deficit, including local government which accounts for a quarter of all public spending. | |
"Councils are successfully managing their budgets. Public satisfaction with council services has increased and council tax bills are falling overall in real terms. | |
"In the coming year councils should stay focused on cutting waste, making sensible savings, modernising frontline services and keeping council tax down." | |
Lancashire council's proposals are to go before the authority's cabinet on 24 January. | |
The authority employs 34,500 people, but the majority of jobs are funded through the "ring-fenced" schools budget. | |
The job losses will be among the 13,000 non-school council employees. | |
On Thursday, the cabinet agreed a proposal to increase council tax by 1.99%. | |
Ms Mein said the rise, the equivalent of 41.5p per week for a band D property, would bring in an extra £7.3m and was "a small price to pay" to protect services. | |
The final decision on the council tax increase will be made at a full council meeting on 27 February. | The final decision on the council tax increase will be made at a full council meeting on 27 February. |