In response to the Williams Commission’s recommendations for councils across Wales to merge to form 10, 11 or 12 Welsh local authorities, Dominic MacAskill, UNISON Cymru/Wales head of local government, said:
“The Williams commission report that has been released today is clearly a detailed and significant piece of work and needs careful consideration.
“UNISON has already commenced a study of the recommendations and the possible impacts they will have on public sector workers throughout Wales.
“The report appears to be a sensible and balanced response to the challenges that Welsh public services face and we are pleased that the commission acknowledges the increased demand being placed on services at a time of budget restraint.
“Understandably there is going to be a lot of focus on the future of Welsh local government and we welcome the assertion that the status quo is not an option.
“Local government workers across Wales are obviously going to be heavily affected by the outcomes of this report and it is essential that UNISON and the other trade unions are involved in any discussions and negotiations that affect the workforce, that is why UNISON is calling for the Welsh government to establish a staff commission with significant trade union involvement to oversee this reorganisation process.
“UNISON has always been clear that 22 local authorities across Wales is an unsustainable position. We need to use this chance to ensure that local authorities can sustainably deliver good quality services and value for money to Welsh communities.
“However, UNISON is concerned that there are going to be significant transitional costs incurred as a result of reorganisation and believes that the Welsh government should commit to fund any reorganisation and that local authority budgets should not be required to absorb these costs.
“Local authority budgets must be used responsibly and for the delivery of services to the communities they serve, which would be incompatible with having to fund reorganisation.
“We are positive about many of the opportunities outlined in the report for local government but we are disappointed that there is no recommendation to merge the eight current local government pension scheme funds into one all Wales fund which would lead to over £65 million year on year savings and we would urge the Welsh government to take this into consideration.”
