Highland Council risks potentially big fines and serious damage to its reputation in the wake of sustained budget cuts that have destroyed staff morale, according to councillors.
Alarm bells were sounded at yesterday’s regular audit and scrutiny committee meeting in Inverness.
Council officials were hit by a volley of concerns about the impact of punishing savings of tens of millions of pounds over the past eight years, triggered by global recession.
Finance chiefs acknowledged the seriousness of the situation but indicated further “inevitable” job cuts next year.
The authority shed 250 full-time staff this year, mainly through a radical voluntary redundancy scheme.
It will save the council £10.9million a year and was part of a £50million single-year clawback to balance the books demanded by less government funding.
Lochaber councillor Brian Murphy aired his concerns during a routine debate about “corporate risks.”
The Labour member said: “Very important things could get missed which could end up with the council being exposed to financial and reputational risk.”
Inverness councillor Donnie Kerr said: “We have staff who’ve had so much dumped on them, I don’t know how they can cope. We can’t reduce staffing very much more without having significant impact on the remaining staff and on service delivery.”
Finance director Derek Yule warned that even with joint financial ventures involving other councils and an inhouse “council redesign,” things were “increasingly challenging.”
He said: “Staff is the largest single cost and it’s inevitable in times of budget reductions that there are reductions in staffing numbers.
“Officers have been saying to you for some time that the council will have to reduce the level of services. It’s up to you, ultimately, as members, to decide what those choices are but I think it’s inevitable in the financial climate that there has to be a reduction in service.”
He added: “That should not be the same thing as fewer staff doing more work. The redesign is looking at options for service delivery and how best we can try and maintain services by doing them in a different way, perhaps more efficiently.”
Dingwall and Seaforth councillor Margaret Paterson warned that it would prove impossible to lose more staff without impacting those who remain.
“We have a duty of care on their wellbeing and I feel they’re pushed to the limit, and I feel very sad about it,” she said.
