'The taxpayers will pick up bill'

Sep 11 2007 By Gurdip Thandi, Birmingham Mail

FURIOUS opposition councillors say taxpayers will be forced to foot the bill when a new pay structure is implemented.

Staffordshire County Council bosses have sent out revised proposals to thousands of workers about improved wage rates, as part of the statutory Job Evaluation agreement.

An original offer was put to workers and trade unions earlier in the year, but that was rejected and revised proposals drafted following further discussions.

If the current proposals are accepted, more than 12,000 members of staff will see their wages increased at a cost of around £85 million to the authority.

But councillors on the opposition Conservative Party said residents across the county would face cuts in services and higher council tax bills.

They also warned that jobs will be on the line as the council attempts to cover the cost of the scheme.

Tory group leader Philip Atkins said: "All too often the taxpayer has to pick up the bill and here we go again.

"If the Labour administration had started a review of its services sooner, not increased the work force with Government encouragement by 46 per cent since 2000, and made the decisions on Job Evaluation sooner at less cost, we would not be facing a massive bill.

"Communities face having services reduced, facilities closed and property sold-off to help fund the cost of its looming cash crisis."

A spokesman for the council said: "All local authorities are facing the same process. To date Devon is the only county council to have implemented single status ahead of Staffordshire. That is a very much smaller authority so their situation is less complex.

"From day one, Cabinet set out its desire that the implementation of Job Evaluation should be with the broad agreement of our employees and through a collective agreement with the trade unions."

He added: "We completed a three-month comprehensive consultation period with our employ-ees and what they told us was very consistent across the board.

"They spoke, we listened. Clearly employees were not supportive of the proposed new pay structure and therefore Cabinet would not force this through. This was never a done deal.

"This new proposed pay structure is a proposal. Cabinet will make the final decision in December 2007 with the aim to implement in April 2008.

"This process is not unique to Staffordshire. Job Evaluation is a national agreement between local authorities and the trade unions and forms part of the 1997 Single Status Agreement."