Council’s vacant posts called into question

The number of vacant posts at Horsham District Council (HDC) was called into question by the leader of the Liberal Democrats, David Holmes (LDem, Horsham Park), in a cabinet meeting last Thursday (Jul 25).

By The Newsroom

Published 4th Aug 2013, 16:00 BST

He raised the issue a week ahead of the council announcing a reduction in car allowance and redundancy pay as well as other cuts this Wednesday (Jul 31).

He said: “Are you happy with having 44 vacant posts? Is that something to be reduced?

“44 vacant posts seemed like quite a lot.”

Katharine Eberhart, HDC’s director for corporate resources, said: “We are reviewing the total to make sure we are in a much better position.”

She added: “I could say for the posts that are in the areas which are my direct concern that I’m happy with how I’m staffed.”

He then further questioned the cost of employing agency staff to cover the vacancies.

Tom Crowley, chief executive of HDC said: “We have to make a judgement from time to time whether it makes sense to delete a post and make a saving.”

Horsham District Council Liberal Democrats