Renfrewshire Council plans to axe 130 jobs in effort to plug £45m black hole

Almost half of the cuts are expected to come from the customer transactions department as the council seeks to make more use of technology and automation to handle routine requests digitally across customer service centres, administrative support and employee services.

Around 25 posts are also set to be lost in school and social care catering services, while almost 30 will be chopped from community development and protection departments, covering the likes of environmental health, building standards and local housing services.

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The placeshaping department – which oversees areas such as tourism, land use and regeneration – would lose around ten posts as part of the move, while seven jobs are set to be cut in the community facilities booking and access department, which deals with booking arrangements for schools, halls and centres.

Bosses have said the cuts will be achieved through a combination of voluntary redundancy, voluntary early retirement and managing existing vacancies.

Cllr Eileen McCartin

The drastic move was revealed in a council report – called Right for Renfrewshire – to the Leadership Board on Wednesday and is expected to contribute around £25million to the council’s savings target.

Income from the completion of new-build properties and a possible rise in council tax are also expected to help cut the budget gap over the coming year.

Paisley Southwest Councillor Eileen McCartin expressed concern about further digitisation of customer services at the Leadership Board meeting.

This would mean customers who phone the council will initially face using an automated system for routine transactions as opposed to speaking to a person.

Councillor McCartin said: “I have some concerns on digital customer services.

“The reality is there are some older people who struggle with some of the automated activities.

“Some people find it confusing. It is highly efficient from the point of view of the council and the staff trying to manage the services, but it’s awful for people trying to deal with it.”

Councillor Jim Sheridan, who represents Linwood, Houston and Crosslee, added: “We have some real concerns about the voluntary redundancy scheme in place and the number of people that will be leaving.

“I spoke to a head boy from a local school recently who told me they were doing litter picking if they had a free period, as they are expected to do it.

“Once we move into a situation where schoolkids are expected to remove litter, that worries me. It’s as if we are becoming a DIY council.”

Despite some members raising concerns, a majority voted for the report at the meeting as council leader Iain Nicolson said it was a process which had “some way to go”.

Cllr Iain Nicolson

A council spokesman said: “The council faces an estimated budget shortfall over the next three years of £45million and we are looking at a range of measures to manage our finances.

“Our Right for Renfrewshire programme is expected to contribute around £25million to the savings target. The programme will review how we deliver all of our services and respond to feedback from local people.

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“It will improve the way we work by making the most of new technology, streamlining our processes and systems and making sure local people have more options, and can access services more quickly.

“As a result of the changes from the first phase of service design, we expect a reduction of around 130 full time equivalent posts. This will be achieved through a combination of voluntary redundancy, voluntary early retirement and managing existing vacancies.”

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