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22
Jun 2022
North Yorkshire County Council leaders have pledged they will not be “printing money” to boost its workforce’s wages despite facing its highest staff turnover on record and struggling to recruit staff .
A meeting of the council, which employs some 15,000 people, heard that many staff had left for higher salaries, resulting in a turnover rate of nearly 16 per cent.
The Tory-led authority’s executive heard the county’s significantly lower unemployment level than the region was exacerbating the recruitment issue, and despite launching innovative recruitment campaigns finding staff remained “a significant challenge”.
Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Bryn Griffiths said that because local government pay had been “significantly suppressed” over austerity and recent pay rises had been outstripped by the private sector. it was not surprising the council had an issue with filling job vacancies.
Gareth Dadd
He said it was important the council highlighted the benefits of working in the public sector, adding:
Condemning the RMT union’s railway strike as “absolutely disgraceful”, Cllr Dadd said the cost of living crisis was not just confined to transport workers.
He revealed a cost of living crisis action plan would be considered by the authority’s executive next month, coupled with a revised list of priorities, such as council tax reductions, benefits and revenues.
Cllr Dadd said:
He said the council was working in numerous ways to help with the crisis.
Alongside the council injecting funds into the Citizens Advice network, school holidays programmes and a domestic property improvement scheme to reduce fuel bills, and as petrol prices continue to soar trading standards officers were visiting numerous “more remote petrol stations to ensure the equipment they use it accurate”.
He said the authority’s Income Maximisation Service, which works to ensure residents receive the best benefits they can from government, has gained about £45 million in additional funds for the county’s residents.
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