We already saw a saving of £0 following Reform’s attempt to sack all zero DEI workers in Lincolnshire’s council. There were of course no such workers in the first place, but hey, why check reality when the soundbite is attractive to some of your base.
As Reform continue the threat to implement Nigel Farage’s policy that anyone in the council working on climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion should “go look for another job”, Staffordshire Council have been collating the figures of how many of their staff actually work in those jobs in their administration.
The answer, inevitably, is: not many.
Once again, a total of zero workers work in DEI. The effort to count them has presumably cost more than the savings there.
Even if there were some, the Equality Act puts a legal requirement on councils to be mindful of these topics. As Dr Phil Catney says:
…the Equality Act puts a requirement on councils to be mindful of these things. You could choose to de-prioritise them, but you could end up losing money if you get sued for discriminatory practices.
They do have some staff who work in the field of ‘climate change’ though. You know, protecting the environment for their residents and the rest of us. Per Dr Catney, this would include such topics as energy efficiency – encouraging policies that might actually save money.
In any case the total saved by firing them would be £153,000.
That’s 0.02% of the council’s budget, and it isn’t even clear that it would be that high.
For context, last year the council overspent its special educational needs and disabilities budget by £27 million.
When they produce their first council budget, Reform might talk up things like climate change, but it won’t even make a tiny bit of the savings they need to make.