Charnwood Borough Council - Leading in Leicestershire

Charnwood Borough Council is aiming to provide key services throughout the proposed national industrial action, which will affect all Local Authorities on Tuesday, March 28.

It is expected that Council services will be affected to some degree by the strike action, which comes following a ballot of Union members. However, the Southfield Offices will remain open and refuse and recycling collections will continue as scheduled. Charnwood Borough Council has a 40% Union membership.

Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, said: “We are in discussions with the Unions to ensure that essential services are maintained and while we expect that some services will be affected, but we hope to minimise and limit disruption.

“The Council offices at Southfields will be open, as will the switchboard on (01509) 263151 and Customer Contact Centre on (01509) 634567 (Housing Issues) or (01509) 634563 (Recycling and Waste Issues).

“We do apologise for any inconvenience arising from the local effects of this national dispute.”

The strike action follows a review of the Local Government Pension Scheme by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), in which a package of changes to the Scheme have been set out. These are due to come into effect during 2006 and include a change which means that, although employees will still be able to retire from age 60, the pension an employee builds up after September 2006 will be paid at a reduced rate if voluntarily drawn before age 65. The pensions that employees have already banked in the scheme up to September are fully protected from the change (and there may be extra protection for older members).

Discussions on the next phase of the Local Government Pension Scheme are underway and the ODPM will be asking employers and the unions for their views on far-reaching strategic changes that could see a new-look pension scheme being introduced from as early as 2008.