Colchester Council staff numbers continue to drift upwards, despite its £5m annual deficit spending

Information released by the Council pursuant to the Government’s 2015 Local Authority Data Transparency Code reveal a continued upward drift in staff numbers.

Some staff work part-time, so their working hours are accumulated and converted into a full-time-equivalent to enable meaningful year-on-year comparisons.

Cllr William Sunnucks, Conservative Spokesman on Council Resources (Rural North Ward), confirmed his findings to a meeting of local business people on Saturday 6^th January: “the astounding issue is not that the staff levels have drifted upwards by 11.5 full-time equivalent people over the past two years, but that it should happen at a time when the leadership claims to be tightening its belt.  It is spending well beyond its means, and running down its reserves at an alarming rate.”

The Council’s deficit spending is running £5m per annum and the leadership doesn’t know how long its reserves will last – its last audited balance sheet was March 2020, nearly four years ago.

While the Lib-Dem group, which controls the Council with the support of Labour, dithers on what to do, Conservatives have a bold plan to significantly cut the cost of politics, concentrating on delivering core municipal services at the best possible quality, and remunerating staff at a more reasonable level so that the Council workforce can retain a higher proportion of excellent performers.

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Note: Headcount excludes subsidiary companies Colchester Borough Homes which employs a further 219 staff and Colchester Commercial holdings which employs a further 129 staff

2024-01-06