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Council reform resulted in 208 redundancies costing £17m

Beginning in April 2015, local government in the north underwent a huge restructuring process which saw the number of council’s reduced from 26 to 11 in a bid to make them more efficient and cost-effective
Beginning in April 2015, local government in the north underwent a huge restructuring process which saw the number of council’s reduced from 26 to 11 in a bid to make them more efficient and cost-effective Beginning in April 2015, local government in the north underwent a huge restructuring process which saw the number of council’s reduced from 26 to 11 in a bid to make them more efficient and cost-effective

MORE than 200 redundancy packages costing almost £17 million were given to council staff as part of Northern Ireland's `super council' reform.

The latest Local Government Audit Report conducted by the Northern Ireland Audit Office states that there were 208 redundancies in the 2015/16 financial year at a cost of £16.8m.

On average, each exit package cost £80,750 - significantly more than the public sector average of £38,950. More than 30 per cent of the packages were for amounts greater than £100,000.

Louise Mason, the auditor who compiled the report, also stated that further severance costs will be incurred by the councils in the coming years.

"As councils restructure, the severance schemes have been predominantly targeting more senior staff hence the greater cost per head," she added.

Beginning in April 2015, local government in the north underwent a huge restructuring process which saw the number of council's reduced from 26 to 11 to make them more efficient and cost-effective.

During this process, all staff from the 26 legacy councils plus over 400 staff from the civil service's planning department transferred to the new super councils.

All 11 of the new councils offered exit packages during 2015/16.

Despite the impact of the planning staff transfers from the civil service, for 2015/16 the overall increase in Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff from the previous year was only 178 - largely due to the impact of staff leaving under exit packages.

Over the five financial years from 2011/12, councils paid a total of £32.1m in staff exit packages.

Ms Mason also noted that, while there had been some savings following the council mergers, these savings "may be difficult to identify" from the annual accounts due to additional staff costs as a result of councils taking on additional functions such as planning.

An increase in national insurance costs has also impacted savings.

Prior to the council reform, the former department of the environment published a paper appraising the potential savings such changes could make.

The appraisal's highest forecast predicted £439m of savings over 25 years, after taking account of one-off costs of £127m.

Ms Mason, however, noted that "councils had a number of reservations with this model including the potential for this level of savings to be achieved".

"As councils develop the local government auditor recommends that the department monitors and reports on efficiency savings gained," she said.