Devon County Council announces jobs freeze

In an attempt to manage its projected £8.1 million overspend, Devon County Council has introduced a jobs freeze.

The £8.1 million overspend is mainly the result of increased demand on adult social care, which produced an overrun of £6.4 million. In total, 10,422 packages of care for elderly people and people with physical and learning difficulties were in place in December, equating to 584 more than the council had budgeted for.

The council has announced that the jobs freeze will not apply to posts where the council would fail to meet its statutory responsibilities if it did not recruit a replacement worker. Moreover, no temporary or agency staff or consultants will be taken on without the personal authorisation of council chief executive, Phil Norrey.

John Clatworthy, finance chief at the council, said: “There has been a relentless, upward pressure on demand for adult services with Devon being home to a higher proportion of people aged over 65 – and especially over 85 – than is typical.

“We have a clear responsibility to care for the most vulnerable children and adults in our county and we will always fulfil that responsibility. But we also have a responsibility to maintain an efficient and cost-effective council for our residents and we will not shirk from the tough measures we will have to take to bring our budget back into the black.

“Since we took responsibility for the county council in 2009 we have reduced the workforce by half from 8,284 to 4,378 cutting the pay bill by nearly £50 million. We have made the council more efficient and reduced our overall spending by £244 million.”