How much Wiltshire Council spent on staff redundancy payments

Data from the Department for Levelling Up and Communities shows Wiltshire Council spent £1.990,000 to make 62 staff members redundant in the year to March 2023 and each redundancy package cost approximately £32,000.

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Terence Herbert

Chief executive of Wiltshire Council, Terence Herbert, said: “We hugely value our staff and are proud of the commitment and hard work they show day in and day out.

“Like all local authorities, we are always looking at ways to deliver our services more efficiently, to ensure we are a high-performing organisation using public funding in the most effective way possible providing value for money for our residents.”

The annual exit payment submission which was made by Wiltshire Council to the Department for Levelling UP and Communities covers those employed by the council but also, staff employed in maintained schools.

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Wiltshire Council employs about 11,000 people but more than 50 per cent are employed in schools. 

Terence Herbert said: The figures include both redundancy costs and also, other exit payment costs such as pension strain costs which are not paid to the individuals but are costs incurred in relation to exiting the employee. 

He added:“In the period April 22 – March 23 the actual redundancy costs paid by Wiltshire Council were around £555k across 62 staff employed either by the council or by the local authority within maintained schools.”

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The Local Government Association said councils had seen the workforce reduce while facing increased demand for services and called for a rethink of Government funding to combat severe budget pressures.

Chair of the LGA’s Resources Board, Councillor Pete Marland, said: "Despite increasing demand for services, local authorities also face challenges in getting the right people into the right roles, such as in children’s services, adult social care and planning.

"Our own workforce survey shows 94 per cent said they were experiencing recruitment and retention difficulties."

He added: "Only long-term, consistent funding from central government will be enough to meet inflationary pressures and the rising costs of the National Living Wage, on top of increasing energy and other costs if we are to avoid more redundancies and prevent exacerbating an already acute capacity crisis in some areas."