LOW paid staff and vulnerable citizens will suffer most from plans by a Scots council to axe 1100 posts amid cuts and savings of near £70million, it has been claimed.

In one of the starkest examples of the cuts impacting on local government, North Lanarkshire is to reduce its workforce by almost 10 per cent, claiming it could not rule out compulsory redundancies as moved to bridge its financial black hole over the next two years.

There have been warnings the cuts will cause chaos for the delivery of vital public services, from education, care to roads and refuse collecting.

The area, already reeling from the decision this week to shut the Tata steelworks, faces the prospect of 400 home helps being shed, along with 130 classroom assistants, half its total.

Plans even include requiring residents with special needs and who have care budgets to make contributions to council to raise £8million. 

Workforce representatives have described the move as "devastating for everyone" living within North Lanarkshire, adding it was "the low paid and vulnerable, including children, elderly and disabled people who will be the worst affected".

The Herald:
Leader of the Labour-run council Jim McCabe described the plans as "extremely unpalatable (which) will have real consequences vital services we provide to the people of North Lanarkshire".
The council has already shed around 1500 full-time equivalent posts over the last five years as part of £110million in savings.

It comes amid predictions of a major squeeze in local government finances in the coming years as further austerity-driven cuts come down the line. The Scottish Government's own figures show councils facing a combined shortfall of £1billion over the forthcoming two financial years.

But senior figures in local government expect that estimate to be dwarfed with the real figure potentially more than double that. 

Mr McCabe said: “We are committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies and will do everything we can to deal with reductions in staffing through voluntary redundancy, early retirement and redeployment.

“Many of the options to save this kind of money...will also have a real impact on our employees, who work so hard to provide those services.
“We continue to face a real-terms cut in the money made available to us by the Scottish Government and so we have no choice but to find more savings on top of the £110 million we’ve been forced to save in the last five years."

The council has already identified where around £23million in cuts and savings will be made between 2016 and 2018 and becomes one of only a small handful of UK local authorities to consult its residents on where the remaining £45million will be made up from. 
It is proposing to axe half of its 260 classroom assistants to save £2.5million and remove 20 literacy specialists from schools.

John Young, Unison steward for North Lanarkshire Council, said: "North Lanarkshire Council are proposing to cut 10 per cent of the workforce which will cause chaos in our vital public services, £26million will be cut from the local economy and at least 600 jobs are under threat of privatisation which we will oppose.

"We understand it’s a difficult time and Scottish councils are being hit by the UK Government austerity and the Scottish Government’s council tax freeze. However they can do more to mitigate the impact of these cuts like borrow at record low interest rates, refinance, use reserves, reform taxation, and make better use of pension funds." 

Leader of the opposition SNP group David Stocks said the workforce faced a "sad and worrying time" in the run up to Christmas but accused Mr McCabe of wrongly blaming the Scottish Government for the situation.