North East Lincolnshire confirms youth service redundancies

The authority has said it will make 12 compulsory and 29 voluntary redundancies among youth service staff as it seeks to save £920,000 from the department’s £3.6m budget by 2016/17.

The council has said that the voluntary redundancies equate to 10.34 full-time positions but information about the remaining job losses is as yet unknown.

The decision to make the redundancies was made following a consultation of 135 employees over the proposals, first announced in March.

The cuts are part of a review of the way the council delivers services at six of its youth centres. It wants to stop delivering services universally from the centres and hopes that a group of community and voluntary organisations will be able to take over the running of the centres from the autumn.

The council also wants to merge its Young and Safe initiative – a police-led early intervention service designed to engage children and young people at risk of becoming involved with crime or drugs and alcohol – with the youth offending service as part of a bid to reduce the number of children and young people who are put in custody or placed on referral orders.

Steve Kay, assistant director for early intervention at North East Lincolnshire Council, has defended the move and said the decision to cut jobs was made following an extensive review of the service.

He said: “We’ve been through a lengthy period of informal and formal consultation involving staff in the service but unfortunately a small number of compulsory redundancies have had to be made.

“Notices have been sent to seven full-time and five part-time affected employees.

“These redundancies were agreed as part of the council’s overall budget plan to tackle the required savings following cuts in government funding.”