The Trust has reduced the year end forecast surplus from £1.9m to £1.6m due to the overall TSS and catering redundancy costs for 2013/14 exceeding the £4.8m specific provision. The projected total redundancy cost for the year is now £7.3m.
NSFT has spent £2.5 million more than the £4.8 million specific provision for redundancies and a very significant proportion of the total of £7.3 million has been wasted. Where is the additional £2.5 million coming from? NSFT is paying millions of pounds in redundancy or early retirement payments in non-redundancy situations, where the ‘redundant’ person’s current job is immediately filled by either a full-time appointment or an expensive temporary replacement. NSFT has been spending about £1.5 million per month on temporary staff – about £18 million per year. NSFT has also overspent on ‘external placements’ by about £1.3 million. Are these overspends going to be paid for with cuts to frontline services for the vulnerable? NSFT needs to be transparent about its finances – it is public money for public services. We hear horrible rumours about further cuts on top of planned cuts in 2014/15. We also suspect that the closure of the canteen at Hellesdon Hospital might have rather a lot to do with a desire to sell the top of the Hellesdon site to property developers and are investigating. If you know any more let us know.
great article
great article