Council under pressure to reverse fire and rehire process

They are calling for Worcestershire County Council’s Tory cabinet to reverse its decision to press on with the controversial employment practice.

About 150 council employees will be dismissed from their current 37-hour contracts in October and re-hired on 35-hour contracts.

This is despite a pledge by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party to ban ‘fire and rehire’ within 100 days of taking office.

OPPOSITION: Labour's Lynn Denham is among the councillors opposing the policy (Image: Lynn Denham)

A motion being brought before a meeting of the council on Thursday (September 12) calls for cabinet to reconsider and “seek alternative options to reduce expenditure”.

The motion stands in the names of Labour councillors Richard Udall, Lynn Denham and Beverley Nielsen, and Liberal Democrats Mel Allcott and Dan Boatright-Greene.

They say: “Council views with alarm the proposal to ‘end the contracts’ of up to 150 experienced employees.

“These long serving staff have not failed at their jobs. They are to be fired because they were contracted by Worcestershire County Council in the past to work 37 hours per week.

READ MORE: Worcestershire County Council to fire and rehire 150 staff

Labour MPs respond to Worcestershire County Council 'fire and rehire'

“This ‘fire and rehire’ process is damaging the reputation of the council as an employer, and affecting the morale and productivity of all staff.

“It is having a detrimental impact on the skills shortages and difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff within some of our services.”

Unison, the public service union, has previously described the fire and rehire process as “obscene” and said it amounts to a five percent pay cut for some of the county council’s longest-serving members of staff.

A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council referred us to a previous statement made by the authority on the subject of fire and rehire.

It said the council’s “reduced working hours strategy” was first introduced in 2011.

“This small cohort of staff, less than six percent our workforce, remain working 37 hours in what is deemed to be a 35 hour non-exempt post which has resulted in the disparity across the workforce,” the statement said.

“Officers first commenced consultation in December 2023 as part of a range of workforce saving proposals which were approved by council in the 2024/25 budget.

“We have been in dialogue with staff affected by the proposed change and the council’s recognised trade unions, both prior to and throughout the process in accordance with the council’s policies.

“Following the completion of the consultation, the chief executive authorised the proposals to be implemented.”