Promise over city council job cuts
Councillor Mike Whitby's comments came in a speech on the council's 2010/11 budget, in which it was announced that compulsory redundancies would be "kept to a minimum".
The message to the workforce did not appear until more than half-way through the report to full council, although Mr Whitby had begun the speech by highlighting "challenging times ahead".
In a section entitled The Road to Excellence, Mr Whitby explained how an efficiency programme needed to find £69 million amid budget pressures.
He said: "We want to do this openly, honestly, transparently and with our workforce.
"This is why our plans clearly state the fact that some funded posts may be at risk – potentially 1,500 to 2,000."
He added: "However, as we have clearly stated before, this is not necessarily equivalent to job cuts.
"Through natural wastage, not filling vacancies, up-skilling current employees, early retirement, voluntary redundancy and reducing agency staff use, we continue to reduce head count.
"During the current financial year we have already reduced the overall head count by almost 900, while also reducing agency usage by almost 500, all with very few compulsory redundancies taking place.
"We will continue to do everything possible to ensure this trend continues and our human resources practices will look at a range of measures to ensure that any compulsory redundancies are kept to a minimum."
The council published its budget two weeks ago, announcing a below-inflation tax increase of 1.9 per cent.
Within a 109-page report was a single paragraph on "employee implications" which stated "it is likely that there could be a reduction' in up to 2,000 funded positions".
Shortly after, council chief executive Stephen Hughes implied that the reductions were a certainty, referring to them in a blog on the council's website as "the 1,500 to 2,000 posts that will need to be removed in 2010/11".
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