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Around 90 council jobs will go this year as Government funding cuts continue to bite
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Reading council must lose 90 more staff

By Linda Fort
January 17, 2013

Around 90 council jobs will go this year as Government funding cuts continue to bite.

Reading Borough Council bosses are seeking reductions through voluntary redundancies and freezing vacancies, but acknowledge there may be “less than 20” compulsory redundancies.

Leader of the council Councillor Jo Lovelock said it would mean greater pressure on the remaining staff of just over 3,000.

She said: “There will be fewer of them trying to deliver a good service.”

Because housing and education budgets are continually ring-fenced, the cuts go on hitting the same core services year after year.

Cllr Lovelock said there had been considerable reorganisation within the council: “We have changed the way in which we deliver some services.”

But she acknowledged: “It does put a great strain on staff at the moment.”

The council lost £7.1 million from its government grant for the coming financial year, but in real terms that means making savings of £13 million, having already made a saving of £12.8 million this financial year.

Cllr Lovelock said: “Of course these cuts mean that there are fewer working people spending in the local economy.”

She said the Government cuts were hitting boroughs with areas of need and deprivation harder than wealthy local authorities.

Reading was losing up to £99 per head of population compared with neighbouring Wokingham, which was losing just £32 per head.

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Hboy - extra? Probably don't work 12.6 consecutive minutes anyway.

voiceoftreason?
23/01/2013 at 17:07

90 staff out of 3,000 equates to 3%. In other words, those left will have to work 3% harder or an extra 12.6 minutes a day.

Hboy, Caversham
23/01/2013 at 13:59

'There will be fewer of them trying to deliver a good service.'

If only there were a good service in the first place.....

Readinglocal
22/01/2013 at 04:54

Can we get rid of Jo Lovelock through redundancies?

extoo
21/01/2013 at 14:34

What about DEFRA/RPA staff? They would be better of employed by Wetherspoon's considering the amount of time they spend in there...

Doom Lord
19/01/2013 at 10:07

Dong-Ding, here is the same link I provided you yesterday at 14.03:

http://www.rossmartin.co.uk/index.php/sme-tax-news/35-sme-tax-news/565-govt-committee-slams-hmrc-again.

I think you should set up your own website. Try googling "hmrc backlogs", but don't use your own search engine !

cadoxton conner
18/01/2013 at 16:51

I have no interest in pretending to be Tony Page nor Jo Lovelock. I have more intelligence and common sense in my little toe than those two combined.

Dong-Ding, 3rd world slum
18/01/2013 at 16:13

#ding-dong

send him an autographed picture of yourself and he will see the wisdom oozing forth.

I am not dissapointed in fact i am relieved. However i would have thought that being more inteligent thanTP you would have said it was you and allowed others to denigrate a surrogate politician. You could have organised a collection for overworked council staff and pocketed the lot. Don't miss the points.

parlovero, Earley
18/01/2013 at 15:45

You have not provided me with a link or a suggested search. It would appear that it is you living in a fantasy world and not me.

Dong-Ding, 3rd world slum
18/01/2013 at 14:34

Dong-Ding, as previously commented, I provided you a with a link and suggested search but it seems your head is firmly in the sand. What search engine are you using - "World of Dong-Ding" ?

cadoxton conner
18/01/2013 at 14:22

parlovero,

Your loss then. I'm far too clever to be Tony Page or Lovelock, sorry to disappoint you.

cadoxton,

You still haven't provided any evidence of this backlog. A bit like you haven't provided any evidence of Jimmy Carr breaking the law.

Dong-Ding, 3rd world slum
18/01/2013 at 14:06

Surely nobody would admit to being a HMRC tax inspector, not with their record of gross incompetence and huge backlogs !

cadoxton conner
18/01/2013 at 14:02

#Dong-ding

You know you should never give your personal details over the internet, you never know who you might be talking to. You could be anybody. Even Joe lovelock or Tony Page as they would have a vested interest in blaming the shiftless workers. If you were Tony Page who knows where it might lead. You naughty boy!