THURROCK Council leader Rob Gledhill has defended the council’s job cut plans and said the council was faced with a big task to balance the books.
He said: “Following Covid and forced reduction in our investment strategy the council has seen a massive increase in demand for services at the same time a significant decrease in income. We must remember that our investment strategy easily pays the interest on our debt as well as brings in over £30m of income to spend on services.
“This is over £30m we do not need to ask the taxpayers for and was made clear at the meeting by officers. With Thurrock having the third lowest Council Tax of any unitary authority, and because of limitations in the amount we are able to increase Council Tax, we have to look to change the way and what services we deliver. I am sure that no one, other than the Labour leader, forgets we inherited a deficit of £40m from Labour when we took control of the Council in 2016.”
Mr Gledhill added: “We announced in August that Thurrock would be changing the way it provides services and to rise to the challenge of the £34m deficit over the next 2 years, most of which has now been identified.
“This includes reducing the reliance on costly agency staff, over 200 vacant posts would be removed or used to protect existing staff, alternative and creative funding sources found for others but there would still be some job losses.
“To put Thurrock’s pay bill into perspective, Thurrock currently pays £98m per year in salary, so for every 1% increase in salaries we have to increase Council Tax by 1.4% and this is not sustainable.
Officers are going through the process of presenting how services will be delivered going forward and where job losses do happen staff are fully consulted with and supported.”
