Glasgow City Council suspends voluntary redundancy scheme

Glasgow City Council’s plan to introduce a voluntary redundancy scheme for up 1,500 members of staff has been suspended due to the coronavirus crisis.

Glasgow City Council suspends voluntary redundancy scheme

The local authority faced a spending gap of around £50 million approaching its 2020/21 budget with much of this attributed to the settlement of an equal pay bill of more than £500m.

A paper due before the council’s city administration committee yesterday had recommended seeking up to 1,500 voluntary redundancies over the next three years.

However, the paper was pulled from the meeting after council officers agreed that any implementation of the scheme would be impossible in the wake of the current pandemic.

Glasgow City Council said the paper is likely to come back in the near future.

A spokesman told Scottish Housing News: “It is clear that, given current events, the anticipated timetable for the full implementation of a scheme would not be achievable. Officers will revise the paper and bring it to a future meeting of the city administration committee.”

The voluntary redundancy scheme is being introduced to help the council cope with having to pay compensation to thousands of women workers after equal pay campaigners reached a settlement in January 2019.

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