Hundreds of online jobs and hundreds of websites will be closed at the ‘Beeb’ as a means of meeting their reduced budget for web services. The BBC said it is seeking a "more streamlined" approach to its online service. Bosses are cutting their online budget by 25 per cent over the next three years.
A hospital trust had to play down reports of mass redundancies after a member of staff gave wrong information to the workforce. The workers in Greater Manchester panicked when a junior manager wrongly told them that at least a quarter of them would be made redundant. The NHS Trust apologised to 240 staff, and added that management hoped to avoid compulsory redundancies.
A ‘memorandum of understanding’ on managing job cuts was drawn up following talks led by Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones. Mr Jones led discussions with council leaders through the Welsh Local Government Association and the GMB, Unison, Unite and Ucatt trade unions through the Wales TUC. The talks will take place between councils and unions.
The government denied its funding allocations were unfair after the news that Liverpool City Council will axe around 1,500 jobs due to cuts. "If councils share back-office services, join forces to procure, cut out the non-jobs and root out the over-spends, then they can protect frontline services," said a spokesman at the Department for Communities and Local Government.
A union has said it will refuse to negotiate over calls for voluntary redundancies at a firm which employs dozens of disabled people in the north-eastern region.
A community grant has helped a council balance its books as finance staff have been working on the final grant allocation from central Government. Ealing has been given a community grant of £140,000 in the first year for its voluntary sector, but it still needs to fill a financial black hole of two per cent as cuts to front-line services at the council are much more than forecast.
The future of public toilets is being discussed across an entire county as a local authority looks to save £1 million. Cornwall Council wants a complete overview of the service as part of an overall programme of budget savings in efficiencies over the next four years. The council will also be examining the possibility of charging for the use of public conveniences or closing sites where there is a strong case to do so.
Dads and mums who do not send their children to school could face fines of hundreds of pounds. Portsmouth City Council prosecuted four parents in one day for this offence.
A senior union official has criticised the way an electronics giant is seeking to close one UK depot and open another. Unite’s Peter Hughes said: “Bosch had a dedicated workforce at Miskin who have been let down very badly.” A spokeswoman for Bosch Group pointed out the locations at Miskin and Worcester operate within very different market sectors.
As a protest over wages, pensions and working conditions, tanker drivers are to vote on potential strike measures, possibly as soon as next month. A vote in favour of action would raise the prospect of disruption in supplies to petrol stations in a repeat of blockades a decade ago.
