The amount of council tax payers’ money being spent on employing full-time union representatives is to be reviewed by the Green administration.
Councillor Ann Norman, the Conservative finance spokesman, raised the issue at the council cabinet meeting on Thursday (14 July), saying that the council employed 8.1 full-time union officials.
And Councillor Norman welcomed the response from her Green counterpart Jason Kitcat.
She highlighted figures in a budget report showing that the new administration was expecting a £120,000 overspend on “central union duties” in the current financial year.
The budget report included the item as part of a projected overspend of £447,000 on human resources (HR) by Brighton and Hove City Council.
Another cause of the shortfall, the report said, was £175,000 in “unachievable income from recruitment advertising and use of the new HR system by external organisations”.
The report added: “Vacancies are being held to try to manage the projected overspend.
“A detailed action plan is under development to address the shortfall and rebase the budget and staffing to match resources to budget.”
Complex
Councillor Kitcat said: “The additional union spend was introduced by the previous [Conservative] administration to support staff in dealing with the complex work on ‘single status’.
“This addressed current and historical differences in pay for men and women doing similar jobs at the council. It was important and difficult work.
“There are still a few areas of work to do on this issue but as it winds down any administration would have had to discuss with unions what appropriate levels of support would be once the ‘single status’ matters had been resolved.”
He added that the Greens were seeking to be as efficient as possible with all areas of the council’s finances.
Councillor Norman said: “We understand that trade union members working for a council need to be represented in the workplace.
“However, I think that, particularly in the current economic climate, it is reasonable to question just how much of this cost is borne by hard-pressed council taxpayers.”
Her fellow Conservative, Councillor Brian Pidgeon, who represents Patcham, plans to ask for more details at the full council meeting on Thursday (21 July).
He wants to know how the council compares to other similar local authorities.
Potential
Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, leader of the council’s opposition Conservative group, said: “The Green administration recently announced that they will be increasing council tax by 3.5 per cent next year.
“But I believe that, before making this commitment, they should have properly examined the potential for savings in non-frontline expenditure.
“If the figures suggest that we spend more than other comparable local authorities on union work, then we will be seeking to get this reduced at budget council.”
Councillor Kitcat said: “Given the scale of the cuts being imposed on us it’s simply not the case that ‘cutting a little more’ in the back office will meet the financial challenge.
“The Conservative-led government are not only reducing our main funding stream, they are pushing additional costs on to us through their welfare reforms.
“We also anticipate several of the changes relating to housing benefit, legal aid and council tax benefit will result in more people seeking help from the council.”
He added that the proposal for a 3.5 per cent rise in council tax next year was “a responsible measure to face these challenges”.
In the same section of the report the council’s communications budget was said to have a projected overspend of £311,000.
One reason was the risk of a £250,000 shortfall linked to an advertising and sponsorship tender after “delays in the procurement process for complex legal reasons”.
The rest of the overspend was linked to a mixture of staffing pressures and anticipated shortfall against the advertising income budgeted for the council magazine City News.
The report added: “Council-wide expenditure on communications reduced by approximately £650,000 in 2010-11 compared to the previous financial year.”
The financial pressures are being felt as the council’s rental income from its extensive property portfolio has fallen – to about £80,000 short of budget – as a result of the recession.
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