04.06.18
West Berkshire Council spend over £750,000 on redundancy payments
Severance payments paid out by West Berkshire Council have reached over £750,000 from 2016, prompting concerns over the authority’s spending arrangements.
Figures obtained by Newbury Weekly News found that the council laid off 65 staff from 1 April 2016 to the end of March this year, spending a total of £769,369.65 in severance payments.
Adult social care employees suffered a high number of redundancies, losing 11 staff members — nine from children and family services — were made redundant over the two-year stint.
Education services lost 13 members, and a further 23 public protection and culture staff, which controlled posts such as library employees, were also laid off.
The council said the redundancies were “inevitable” and the pay-offs were done to protect public services, of which the authority aimed to save around £700,000 a year.
In November 2017, West Berkshire cut Citizens Advice funding in to save up to £10m in order to deliver a balanced budget.