Unions protest over worries about job losses at Croydon council

By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter

Unions fear there could be job cuts on the horizon at Croydon council.

They are worried that more jobs could be at risk as the council battles to balance its budget one year on from declaring effective bankruptcy.

Unions representing staff at the council protested outside council offices Bernard Weatherill House last week.

The local GMB, Unite and Unison unions believe that expected budget cuts will mean more jobs at the council being axed ​hitting staff and residents hard. 

There have already been a significant number of job cuts – the unions say it is more than 350 in the past 18 months.

They are also calling on the government to increase funding to the authority to help them deal with fall out from the pandemic.

As an outer London borough, Croydon receives less cash per head from central government than inner London boroughs like Lambeth.

Croydon UNISON Branch Secretary Yvonne Green said: “The impact of the Section 114 has meant that we have lost over 350 staff with more job losses to come.  Staff morale is at an all time low.

“The council need to avoid redundancies and more cuts to services to our community and cut back on expenditure of consultants on daily rates of £800 per day.

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with our members and will do all that we can to support them through this difficult time and ensuring that the council produce an equalities impact assessment so we can monitor any disproportionate impact on staff from specific groups and to explore other areas that can be considered for savings to be made for example from the sales of any properties the council own.”

Croydon council said that a decision on further budget cuts is yet to be made.

Budget savings proposals are set to go to the council’s cabinet on December 6.

Pictured top: Unions protest outside council offices. Credit, Paula Peters.