AROUND 2000 members of the Fife Council work force could be gone over the next three years as a result of the increasing pressure to close a £77million funding gap.
Council leader David Ross made the announcement ahead of the Fife Council executive committee meeting last Tuesday, and explained that the cuts could begin over the next financial year. “We do have more older people in the work force,” he said. “There are people coming up to retirement age who could take early retirement.” Last year alone 131 employees left for reason of redundancy, and since April 2010, excluding the transfer of police and fire, Fife Council’s workforce headcount has reduced by around 10 per cent from 22,076 to 17,908.
The cuts have been made through different means, including voluntary redundancy, early retirement and vacancy management. During this time there has also been a reduction of 273 management posts resulting in savings of £13.1million.
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