Deputy council leader says she was wrong to say there would be no redundancies in her authority this year

Martin Shipton

The deputy leader of a Labour-controlled council has admitted that she made a misleading statement when she claimed that her authority would not be making any redundancies this year.

In a message sent to staff working for Bridgend County Borough Council, Cllr Jane Gebbie withdrew her previous comment and said redundancies could not be ruled out.

Last week she told the Senedd’s Local Government Committee that councils across Wales face having to pay an extra £44m for commissioned care which will not be directly covered by the UK Treasury.

Cllr Gebbie said councils were fortunate not to receive a cash-flat settlement from the Welsh Government for the 12 months from April 2025.

Grateful

“We’re all very grateful for that,” she said. “I would have imagined that there would have been various councils across Wales issuing section 114 [bankruptcy] notices because they would have no longer been in a position to deliver services.

Cllr Gebbie added that local government had lost 40% of its staff since 2010 and Bridgend council would not be looking to make redundancies due to difficulty filling current vacancies.

She contrasted a 4.3% increase in the council’s budget with a 5.7% pay offer to workers, saying: “Already that indicates that we won’t have the resource to pay our staff appropriately.”

Cllr Gebbie stressed: “We need to be realistic about what we are able to provide. We don’t deliver gold-standard services in local government any more.”

But she has now sent a message to the council’s staff backtracking on her assertion that there would definitely be no redundancies.

Clarify

The message states: “I want to clarify some of the comments that I made recently regarding recruitment and redundancy issues at Bridgend County Borough Council.

“I previously said that, as we look to set a new budget for the year ahead, the council is not considering redundancies because of the difficulties we face in recruiting to specific posts.

“On reflection, I think it would have helped if I had also explained that, because of the challenging budgetary position, we currently have robust vacancy management procedures in place.

“When a post becomes vacant, the procedures seek to ensure that we only seek to recruit for critical roles, and that where possible, positions remain vacant as part of our efforts to deliver mass savings.

“It is important to note that in situations where it becomes apparent that a position has to be deleted from the structure because of budgetary or service requirement reasons, the council seeks to retrain and redeploy any staff member who may be affected.

“While it is correct that we are not looking towards voluntary redundancies as the principal way of managing our budget, I would not want to give the impression that there will be no redundancies at all.

“Unfortunately, some posts will be removed due to service requirements, and other services will need to be reduced due to the budget position. In these circumstances, the council does everything it can to retain staff or help them find alternative positions.

“Redundancy should only ever be a last resort, reserved for situations where all other eventualities have been exhausted and the budget can only be balanced through significant service cuts.

“The overall point that I made remains true – without significant further investment, local authorities no longer have the resources necessary for providing the same high levels of service, and major changes are urgently needed.

“I hope this provides greater context around my recent comments and helps to clarify the situation.”

‘Mixed messages’

A statement issued by opposition councillors on the authority said: “As opposition councillors, we are concerned that cabinet members seem to be giving mixed messages regarding their own medium term financial strategy with respect to whether redundancies are on or off the table.

“It is essential that the cabinet provides clear leadership and consistency at what will undoubtedly be an uncertain and anxious time for staff.”

A Bridgend council insider said: “It’s shocking that the deputy leader at first said there would be no redundancies and now has refused to rule them out.

“Not long ago Eluned Morgan was crowing about the great financial settlement Wales had got from the UK Labour government, but it’s clear that austerity is continuing and further cuts are on the way.”

After the local government settlement for 2025-26 was announced, Cllr Mark Pritchard, the Independent leader of Wrexham council, warned of compulsory redundancies, saying thousands of local authority jobs across Wales could be lost and that the threat of bankruptcy had not gone away.