Hundreds of Highland Council frontline staff stepped out of the shadow of uncertainty yesterday after their bosses made a surprise decision not to hive off their jobs to an outside organisation.
Around 600 caterers, cleaners and janitors had been in limbo as they waited to learn if their jobs would be switched from inhouse at the council to its arms-length leisure organisation High Life Highland (HLH) as part of radical reforms aimed at saving the local authority money.
It was never clear how switching the jobs would save a penny, but it was expected to be approved as a “preferred option” following the crunch meeting in Inverness.
However, a small band of councillors on a “redesign board,” whose role is to prepare the authority for even tougher financial challenges ahead, agreed to retain the staff.
The board voted 9-3 to keep the various services inhouse under a new “property management service.”
The decision is expected to be ratified at a full council meeting later this month.
The options for the £20million service were considered together with potential “savings, key benefits and potential risks” associated with each model.
Things were complicated by HLH’s refusal to take on the catering element of the package.
Before the decision, council chiefs had insisted that either option would “deliver some improvement over the current service.”
Senior councillors and union leaders were equally content with the decision.
Unison union branch secretary John Gibson, the staff representative on the redesign board said: “I’m very pleased the board have faith in their own staff.
“It’s not a slur on HLH who are very good at what they do. We just believe it would have been a step too far.”
Speaking after the meeting, council leader Margaret Davidson described the verdict as “absolutely fine.”
She acknowledged that future budget savings, demanded by further expected clawbacks from central and Scottish governments in the next few years, would prove difficult.
“What I’m pleased about is the confidence and faith demonstrated in our staff to help us get through this and keep delivering efficient services,” she said.
“A switch to HLH wasn’t actually going to save a large amount of money. It would have been a different management structure.”
She added: “HLH has been successful in redesigning services and bringing in imaginative and flexible management of the services they’ve taken over but this was another big step.”
HLH chief executive Ian Murray said: “We’re pleased to have been asked to work with council colleagues to explore a different model for the delivery of janitorial, catering and cleaning services.
“The process has been very open and detailed and we look forward to continuing to work with the services involved to help wherever we can.”
The business case for the two options amounted to a complex, 80-page document drafted by the council’s top brass, HLH and union representatives.
Head teachers and parent council representatives also had an input in the process which aimed “to achieve effective use of total resources by delivering a local, coordinated and integrated service.”
Redesign board chairwoman Isobel McCallum said: “This was a very well supported decision and I’m very pleased for staff who’ll be anxious to know what’s happening.
“There was good discussion and we recognise some of the issues which will need to be addressed. If approved by (the full) council, this will bring about redesign within council services to drive improvements and efficiencies and the need to explore commercial opportunities.”
For the opposition, board vice chairman Bill Lobban of the SNP group, said: “This is a tremendous opportunity for the council to develop services for the future.
“This option provides a better and more efficient way of delivering these services whilst maintaining more flexibility for redesign.”
