Job cuts planned at cash-strapped city council

Council workers are being made redundant as a council tries to plug a £970,000 funding gap.

Community engagement officers, who support volunteer groups across Worcester, are among the staff being let go by the city council.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands some members of the team are moving to other roles at the council and a reduced team will focus on community safety.

The city council has declined to comment and has also not confirmed how many roles are being made redundant.

The authority's 2025-26 budget, agreed in February, includes a plan to deliver £970,000 in savings over 12 months with savings to come from "grant switches, staff reductions and, where possible, increased income".

The council's medium-term financial plan predicts a £3.6m deficit by 2030 but, by then, the city council may have merged into a unitary authority.

At the budget meeting in February, council leader Lynn Denham said: "There's no longer enough money to do all the things we have to do and that Worcester residents would like us to do.

"It's important to the Labour administration that Worcester City Council is a good employer, that pays the living wage, that we have a funded discretionary welfare assistance scheme, that we tackle poor landlords and help vulnerable people."

Bertie Ballinger, who works alongside community engagement officers as a volunteer and who stood in last year's city council election, for the Conservatives, said the development was "heartbreaking and aggravating", adding: "The community engagement team is the backbone of Worcester city's volunteer army.

"The city councillors who voted for this budget that meant these redundancies have to happen should be ashamed."

Green Party councillor Tor Pingree was one of four city councillors to vote against the budget in February.

She said: "Councils across the country, including our city council, are facing a crisis.

"We have been underfunded for many years now and we are having to make more cuts. Each year this gets more difficult and more devastating."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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