THE Deputy Prime Minister has been asked to step in over plans to fire and rehire county council employees.

Worcestershire County Council is dismissing 143 workers from their 37-hour contracts and rehiring them on 35-hour contracts.

The Tory-led authority is pressing on with the plan despite a manifesto pledge by the current Labour government to outlaw the controversial employment practice.

Labour county councillor Richard Udall has now written to Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who is also the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, asking her to intervene.

COUNCILLOR: Marcus Hart said the council is not like P&OCOUNCILLOR: Marcus Hart said the council is not like P&O

Cllr Udall said: “I don't really know if the secretary of state has any powers to help, but her attention needs to be drawn to this despicable act of employment vandalism.

“I hope she can place pressure on the Tory county council to withdraw the notices and to return to the negotiation table, and not to impose a settlement on its own workers.

“Next month, we will see the grotesque chaos of a chief executive, scuttling around Worcestershire, handing out fire and rehire notices to our own workforce.

“This is no way to run a modern council, it’s an out-of-date, nasty and mean employment tactic which needs to be sent to the dustbin of history.

“The government plans to make fire and rehire illegal, the council is engaged in a race to beat the new legislation. Their actions and conduct will bring significant reputational harm and damage to the council.”

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Harriett Baldwin, the Conservative MP for West Worcestershire, talking on BBC One’s Politics Midlands on Sunday (September 29), called the council’s fire and rehire process “clunky” but said she didn’t think it should be put on hold until new government legislation around employment rights is announced.

Deputy council leader Marcus Hart told the programme: “We have to look at the overall workforce and the fairness for all employees and we do have nearly 900 employees who are on a 35-hour per week contract.

“We have tried to work with those 143 employees. Regrettably we haven’t been able to reach agreement with the two trade unions and those employees so we are using what is perfectly lawful legislation and we are having to dismiss and re-engage and it’s not something we do lightly.”

Cllr Hart said the council was “absolutely not” trying to complete the process before it is banned by the government.”

He added: “We haven’t done a P&O and behaved improperly or in an outrageous way.

“These employees have had this benefit for 13 years and I appreciate how they must feel but we have to be fair to our entire workforce.”

A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council said: “The small cohort of staff around 140 staff, less than six percent of our workforce, are moving their contracted hours [from] 37 hours to 35 hours per week in line with other similar roles across the council.

“The hourly rate remains the same. The average salary of this cohort is around £40,000.

“Consultation started in December 2023 as part of a range of workforce saving proposals which were approved by council in the 2024/25 budget.

“The process followed has been in accordance with ACAS best practice for ‘dismissal and re-engagement’ as a way of enacting change.”