Published: Wednesday, 2nd December, 2009 12:14pm

'We need to reduce employee numbers'

by Alistair Neil

Print | Email

Council boss warns of future cuts

NORTH Ayrshire Council Chief Executive Elma Murray has confirmed the council must slash its workforce in a bid to lessen the impact of major budget cuts.

In an open and frank letter to all 7,300 NAC employees the chief exec outlined the financial pressure facing the local authority as a result of a £40m budget reduction.

Over the next three years the council expects a 12 per cent drop in revenue while "further efficiencies" could lead to total reductions of between 15 and 18 per cent.

"We intend to make every effort to minimise the impact of cost saving measures on jobs," Elma Murray explained in the letter.

"However as pay costs amount to in excess of 50 per cent of our annual budget, this will be a difficult challenge... we will need to reduce the number of people we employ."

For the full story see this week's paper.