Cardiff Council is facing serious questions about its cost cutting measures after forking out £26m on redundancy payments but only reducing overall staff numbers by less than 300.
New figures reveal that the council made redundancy payments to more than 1,200 people between 2014-15 and 2018-19.
But while the number of those affected by voluntary or compulsory redundancy is in four figures, Cardiff Council's latest headcount is just 2% less than it was five years ago.
Leader of the Conservatives in Cardiff Council, Adrian Robson, claimed he is "aware of examples" of people who have taken redundancy from the council coming back as consultants.
Local authority chiefs insisted the situation was more nuanced and branded suggestions that the redundancies had been replaced with the same positions as "completely incorrect".
Cllr Robson said: "£26.4m is greater than the amount of savings the council has had to find in some years.
"They need to be fair (with redundancy packages) but not overly generous. Some people have been working with the council for a long time so they will justify that package.
"They have to make sure the new posts add value to the council and not a rehash of a post put forward as a savings proposal.
"I wonder whether the council has got to grips with this."
What are the figures?
A Freedom of Information (FOI) requested showed that Cardiff Council :
- Spent £26,460,430 in redundancy payments between 2014-15 and 2018-19
- 1,246 people became redundant - either compulsory or voluntary - during the same period
- Cardiff Council staff numbers in 2014-15: 13,647
- Cardiff Council staff numbers in 2018-19: 13,353 (difference of 294)
- Average "exit package" - which includes both voluntary or compulsory redundancy payments and pension costs - for a Cardiff council employee has been around £21,236 .
The figures also showed that in 2018-19, Cardiff Council 229 made people redundant - including 105 school staff. But during the same period the number of staff at Cardiff's schools has increased by 390.
Savings
Cardiff's schools, which this year were allocated £241m from the council - an extra £4.6m from the year before, are responsible for managing their own individual budgets.
During those five years, the council made savings of over £135m and says voluntary redundancies "played a significant contributory factor in achieving those savings".
Redundancy payments at Cardiff council are capped at £23,625, and the council is one of the few in Wales which has adopted these rules.
But Conservative councillor Joel Williams said he was concerned people are being given big redundancy payouts only to be replaced by people doing similar work.
He said: "£21,000 (for the average payout) is a lot of money, but what we have to bear in mind is that some officers may have worked for a considerable amount of time for the council.
"I would want assurances that the new posts are different from the posts we have been deleting.
"It is my understanding from council officers that there are a small number of people who may take a redundancy payment and then return to the council or another local authority to undertake very similar work."
What has the council said?
Cardiff Council employees who take redundancy cannot return to work with the organisation for 12 months or more after they've left.
The council said while it has cut jobs in some areas it had recruited for other posts because of increasing demands.
A spokesman said: “All redundancies are subject to completion of a business case, which is required to evidence a net financial benefit to the council.
"The redundancy cost is a one-off cost incurred at the date of leaving, whereas the resultant staff savings are ongoing. Without them it is highly unlikely the council would have been able to deliver on the cuts required to its budget – almost a quarter of a billion pounds over the past 10 years.
“Any suggestion that roles which have been made redundant or where voluntary redundancy has been accepted have later been replaced with the same positions are completely incorrect.
“It’s important to remember that the council – due to annual budget shortfalls - is constantly restructuring and developing new ways of working. So, while some roles are being made redundant to help deliver efficiencies and budget savings, other areas may need to hire to tackle increasing pressures – social care and education is an example in point.
“Across the period of this FOI, schools has seen its headcount increase by 390. This could be for a range of reasons, pupil growth, school re-organisation etc. Schools, of course, manage their own budgets.
“For years now we've been cutting into our 'other services' budget hard to protect schools and social services as much as we can. More than 1,600 jobs have gone from our back-office, from parks, street cleansing and the outsourcing of our leisure centres as we've set about transforming the way we do business.”
