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Cuts hit staff morale, Town Hall warned
Tackle sick leave, say assessors
INDEPENDENT assessors have warned the Town Hall that morale is plummeting among its staff because of a programme of cuts.
The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), a government quango set up to boost the performance of local authorities, said that changes needed to be “carefully managed”.
The respected agency sent in experts from other councils, including Bob Coomber, former chief executive of Southwark Council, to compile its report.
In a “peer review” held earlier this month, senior officers and Camden’s leading councillors were interviewed.
The final report is not due out until next year but the New Journal got a sneak preview through leaked notes from a presentation given at the Town Hall on Friday.
They show IDeA believes that elected members have “tremendous talent” and that value for money for residents has risen.
But the notes also reveal that the assessors recommend:
n The Town Hall acts to stop big budget cuts impacting on morale.
n Council chiefs address poor performance and sickness absence.
n A clear strategy is drawn up to find funding for council homes.
n Improvements are made in relations between elected members and senior officers.
The IDeA is adamant that its assessors do not act as inspectors, preferring instead to be known as “critical friends”.
The information collected does not reveal who said what, as anonymity was assured to secure honest responses. The reference to cuts relates to the new administration’s bid to freeze council tax by finding savings in Town Hall budgets, including a review of staff costs.
Lib Dem council leader Councillor Keith Moffitt said: “A lot of staff are finding the changes exciting. Many of the staff that have left have gone for career reasons. The cuts we are making are actually modest.” He added: “I have lunch in the staff canteen and the feeling I get is that morale is actually pretty good.”
An opposition Labour group spokesman said the findings were “worrying”.
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