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Press Release - Thursday 12 Jan 2006

UNISON discusses Job Freeze with Devon County Council - 12 Jan 06

UNISON has met with incoming Chief Executive of Devon County Council, Phil Norrey, to question him about the recent announcement of a recruitment freeze within the authority.

The move, made by the Council on Tuesday (10 Jan 06), has met with widespread unrest within the authority as workers become increasingly worried for their future and in many cases for the future well being of their clients - the most vulnerable people in the county.

UNISON Branch Secretary Moira Macdonald said,

'We met with Mr Norry and presented him with a list of concerns made apparent to us by our members

He assured us that the authority was doing everything it could to safeguard services to the public and jobs and that he would answer all questions posed in full by Wednesday 18 January. As soon as we have those answers, then we will pass them on to both our members and the public.'

The authority also recently announced plans to review the service provision in four residential care homes across the county which many are seeing as a prelude to closure of the homes with the potential threat of up to 150 redundancies and clients being 'moved over' against their wishes to private sector care.

For further information:

Press Release - Tuesday 10 Jan 2006 5:45 p.m.

Devon County Council Budget Crisis: 'Recruitment Freeze' only the start says UNISON

Overworked staff put under further stress

Devon County Council's announcement today of an immediate recruitment freeze due to 'severe budget pressures' has been blasted by UNISON.

There is a major concern that the health and safety of our members will be affected as they are put under pressure to cover for vacant posts. The sudden announcement by email at 2pm today came as a total shock.

Devon County UNISON Branch read signs of an extremely hasty decision into the failure to officially notify the Union of the recruitment freeze. The freeze applies to permanent, temporary, fixed term, agency, temp bank and consultants and applies to all current and future activity until further notice.

Devon County Council's Chief Executive today (Tuesday) sent out a message stating that 'due to severe budget pressures all recruitment activity is suspended with immediate effect'. There are restrictions on this - where the Council says that risks to safety are unacceptable - but even then, alternative solutions would be looked at before allowing any recruitment activity.

The Chief Executive's message ends by saying that certain areas of work may be stopped or suspended to eliminate any risk of work related stress.

UNISON's Branch Secretary Moira Macdonald said: 'Our members are already overworked, under paid and under huge amounts of stress - especially those in the front line working with vulnerable children and adults. Some are already working with huge case loads and this news today is a real kick in the teeth, both for our members and for the public. At the end of the day it is the public who will suffer'.

DCC is currently looking to close four residential homes for the elderly in Bampton, Cullompton, Dawlish and Ashburton, with approximately another 20 homes to be looked at over the coming year. Essentially needed equipment and adaptations to vulnerable clients are already being affected by lack of funding and are being left exposed to unnecessary risk through budget difficulties.

UNISON is concerned that the budget crisis will have a knock on affect on its members, with jobs being put at risk over the coming months - with the obvious risk of a diminished service to the public with the lives of the most vulnerable people in Devon at stake.

For further information: