A TOTAL of four people have been made redundant at BCP Council since the local elections in May, it can be revealed. 

The individuals were all from the children’s services department, according to an FOI submitted by the Echo. 

BCP Council estimates that the total amount it would save the authority is £131,365 in on-costs. 

But more job losses are expected to come, with a voluntary redundancy scheme set to take place after April once the 2024/25 budget is approved.

Read more: BCP Council to make job cuts to its 5,000-strong workforce

As many as 150 people could go, according to the budget report published last month. 

The report, by finance director Adam Richens and chief executive Graham Farrant, said: “Not all these posts will currently be filled. 

“Some will be vacant posts, some will currently be provided via agency staff arrangements, and some will be filled with staff on short term contract.  

“Ultimately the current estimate is that there could be over 120 redundancies, a high percentage of which will be linked to the voluntary redundancy process.” 

However, it also warned the losses will have a “direct impact on the level of services” provided by the authority. 

BCP Council employs around 5,000 people, from bin collectors to street cleaners and a chief executive and 76 councillors. 

Mr Farrant previously told the Echo some of the redundancies will be agency staff, “some of them might be vacant, some of them will be permanent people”. 

But he said if there is an opportunity to redeploy the personnel into other vacancies, it will be done.  

He added: “I don't like to say ‘this is definitely going to be X number of compulsory redundancies’ because we'll do everything we can to reduce compulsory redundancy by using vacancies, reducing agency and VR wherever we can.” 

BCP Council spent more than £630,000 making 21 people redundant in the year to March 2023, data from the Department for Levelling Up and Communities showed.  

The previous year saw 48 jobs axed at a cost of £2,203,000 and £2,948,000 the year before that.  

Council leader Vikki Slade has previously hit out at the government’s rise in the living wage, saying council’s have not been given extra money to cover the costs.