Mixed response to cuts proposal
PLANS to cut sick pay and overtime payments for Devon County Council have been welcomed by several Echo readers.
As previously reported, the proposal is one of a raft of measures being considered in a bid to cut the council's costs.
Many have welcomed the cuts, claiming they bring the public sector in line with that of the private workforce.
But others have joined trade unions in criticising the proposed move.
The measures, which are out for consultation and could be implemented from next April, include halving sick pay and freezing overtime pay.
Council chiefs claim the measures will prevent large-scale redundancies and could save them £20 million.
The proposals come as critics of the emergency budget claim more than 7,000 public sector jobs could be lost in Devon.
The Tory-led coalition insists there is no alternative to the "pain" of the austerity measures to turnaround the nation's dire finances. But political opponents point out that the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates the budget will lead to the loss of 610,000 public sector jobs over the next six years.
Spread evenly across the country, this would put an extra 7,472 people on the dole in Devon, increasing the total number looking for work in the county to 28,372.
Union representatives, who have voiced concerns over proposals to halve county council sick pay, claim the measures will hit the severely ill.
Marc, of Topsham, who commented on the Echo's website www.thisisexeter.co.uk about the proposals, was one of several readers to welcome the news. He said: "I have to take time off as holiday if myself or my children are ill and cannot attend work or school.
"Statutory sick pay is a joke. These council workers have no idea what it's like in the private sector or the real world.
"How about if you're ill you take SSP or holiday? That would put a stop to sickies and save tons of our cash."
But Simon, of Exeter wrote: "The public sector workers do not get paid extremely well and we are far from overstaffed and lazy."
Join in the debate at www.thisisexeter.co.uk
2 Comments
by James, Countess Wear
Saturday, July 24 2010, 2:40PM
“However you look at this proposal the inescapable conclusion that you will draw is that services to the public will be adversely affected.
Over a number of key areas many of us take for such services for granted. So I expect we will experience more difficulties in obtaining what we need at the time we need it.
For example, will Social Workers dealing with older people or children at risk, or workers at the Schools be any less stressed by the implementetation of such proposals?
In a National emergency such measures may well be helpful to a government in a real debt crisis, but let us not kid ourselves that this approach, with such damaging possible consequences, is acceptable to all in Devon.
Looking at the DCC Web Page it seems as though the expenditure volumes involved for DCC service delivery in Exeter make the budgets of other councils, like the City Council, look comparatively small beer indeed. This would affect rather more than the operation of public toilets!”
by james, Countess Wear
Saturday, July 24 2010, 1:38PM
“However you look at this proposal the inescapable conclusion that you will draw is that services to the public will be adversely affected.
Over a number of key areas many of us take for such services for granted. So I expect we will experience more difficulties in obtaining what we need at the time we need it.
For example, will Social Workers dealing with older people or children at risk, or workers at the Schools be any less stressed by the implementetation of such proposals?
In a National emergency such measures may well be helpful to a government in a real debt crisis, but let us not kid ourselves that this approach, with such damaging possible consequences, is acceptable to all in Devon.
Looking at the DCC Web Page it seems as though the expenditure volumes involved for DCC service delivery in Exeter make the budgets of other councils, like the City Council, look comparatively small beer indeed. This would affect rather more than the operation of public toilets!”