NI council set to cut 68 jobs in cost-saving move

The job losses, which cover both full time and part time posts and are likely to impact more than 68 people, were agreed during a full council meeting on Thursday.

The council said the job losses are a result of the “current economic crisis arising from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

DUP councillor Phillip Brett told the News Letter: “The council has agreed a new resource package that includes a reduction in capital costs, revenue spending and staffing costs.

“The council has agreed that we will go out to consultation at this stage to seek voluntary redundancies from staff. Any compulsory redundancies would be the last resort in all of this.

“We will now begin discussions with trade unions.

“If we didn’t make cost cutting measures at this stage, residents would be faced with rates increases that wouldn’t be acceptable.”

He added: “We have made a number of approaches to the Department for Communities and will continue to do that.

“We would hope that if they come forward with some cash this won’t be necessary.”

In a statement to the BBC, the council said a 25% increase in rate payments would be necessary without the cost-cutting measures, adding: “The council is particularly concerned about how this would impact on local businesses as this would have an obvious further detrimental impact.”