Angry social workers have confronted Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett on the town hall doorstep saying they are "subsidising" children's services by using their own cars for their job. Members of the fostering and family placement social work team lobbied Mr Dennett and his deputy John Merry before a full council meeting at Swinton Civic Centre.
They were led by Salford City Unison assistant branch secretary Ameen Hadi. In a letter delivered to Mr Dennett, they said: "We have come here today to highly the need for the council to review its car allowance policy in the light of the huge increases in petrol prices currently being experienced.
"The cost of buying petrol, let alone the wear and tear to vehicles, is having a considerable impact on all staff. Ultimately, the cost of maintaining services and visiting clients is now being borne by the staff, not the council.
"In the light of this and the use of hybrid working, we request an immediate review." The fostering and family placement team are also requesting the reinstatement of their essential car mileage allowance which was originally withdrawn in 2015.
They say it is not possible to perform the service without the use of a personal car, particularly since the advent of hybrid working. Addressing the union members directly, Mr Dennett said: "We have to set a legally balanced budget.
"There are tough times ahead in local government, with the cuts in public spending, what the hell is the Government playing at? But he added: "I can't stand here today promising to reinstate the essential care user allowance."
Mr Dennett said the council would look at their case.
One worker told Mr Dennett: "If you want to create a bigger crisis in social work than there already is you will ignore our request."
Another said: "It's totally wrong that we are having to subsidise the council to do our job."
Following the meeting, Mr Hadi told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he was pleased the council would look at the issue again.
He went on: "We've been raising it for a number of months. The reason why we had to lobby was that we weren't getting a response from senior officers of the council. Our members are using their own money to pay for petrol to subsidise the service. That's not acceptable. They are doing professional jobs in trying to protect children in Salford.
"Salford council needs to look seriously about how car payments are made across the board. It's good that they responded like that, but they need to respond a lot quicker. For the council to say it's skint is not good enough.
"If they need to go to central government to say services can't be maintained then they need to say it and we'll back them. The priority should be that services are delivered to the most vulnerable in our community."
A spokesperson for Salford City Council said: “We understand the concerns and are working with the team and Unison to fully investigate and resolve this grievance.
“Reflecting our different ways of working, we are reviewing requirements from our car club and our future sustainable travel plans, which we will do with full engagement from the union.”
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