HSE - 21.03.2011

HSE braced for cuts

Reduced funding. When the government announced the planned budget cuts as part of the Autumn Spending Review, the HSE wasn’t excluded. In fact, it had its budget cut by 35%. To cope with the reduced funding available, the HSE gave its staff the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy. When the scheme closed, 201 staff had their requests accepted. However, these aren’t the only cuts on the cards.

Shut up shop. Offices in Preston and Manchester will be closed in the coming months. This will affect 58 and 100 staff respectively. In both offices there’s a mix of inspection and administrative staff. The plans are to take most of the staff to the HSE’s headquarters in Bootle, Merseyside, however, some won’t want to go.

Who is going? According to officials, the posts being lost are mainly non-frontline. These include positions in research, policy, communication and administration. However, although officials are keen to state that frontline operations won’t be affected, we can’t see how this will be the case.

Why not? This is because there’s currently a complete recruitment ban, which means that if an inspector resigns, or takes the redundancy package, someone new can’t be taken on to replace them. And, with all the changes, it’s quite likely that some inspectors will decide to call it a day anyway.

Will this have an impact? We think so. With the reduction in funding and with pressure being applied by the government to reform how health and safety is managed, changes are likely. However, what they are and what effect they might have is still far from certain.

Tip. The one thing that you can rely on, regardless of any changes made, is that the authorities won’t be going soft. In fact, we think the tighter budgets and pressure to reform will, if anything, make them more likely to take immediate enforcement action, rather than spending time helping businesses to improve standards.