CASH-STRAPPED council bosses are today expected to cut libraries, youth centres and care home places, spent £50,000 on management consultants to help them make savings.

Armed with personality tests, the consultants were drafted into County Hall to help make about 30 managers redundant in a bid to save £1m.

But the use of an external firm has been branded “complete madness” by opponents, who say the cash could have been invested in threatened services.

Consultancy firm Solace (Society for Local Authority Chief Executives and senior managers) was contracted before Christmas to assess 120 middle managers at the authority.

Staff facing redundancy took psychometric tests in competency, skills and experience.

The council, which is set to agree £119m of cuts at a meeting at 10am in County Hall today, said the exercise was not job specific and would help ensure it had the right people in the right roles once its restructuring was complete.

It described the process as a “valuable developmental experience” for those involved.

But Labour group leader Liz Brighouse was outraged by the decision to spend money on external help when the council was cutting social services, libraries and youth work.

She said: “It’s £50,000 to bring in consultants to tell people they haven’t got a job. It’s complete madness.”

The Barton and Churchill councillor said in-house human resources teams could have carried out the work and the cash used for threatened services instead.

She added: “That amount of cash could have kept some people in a job or paid for a youth worker in Wood Farm giving young people 365 days of support.

“Instead we’re paying two and half times that youth worker’s salary to tell someone they haven’t got a job.”

County council spokesman Marcus Mabberley said: “Solace is a not-for-profit and objective organisation.

“It is supporting the county council to assess managers’ skills, knowledge and experience by providing expert advice as part of the council’s work to save on staffing costs by reducing management posts by more than a quarter.

“The process includes exercises to assess the competencies of staff members.

“Many local authorities and other organisations use such exercises to provide objective information to assist with recruitment decisions.”

The most senior tier of management at the council is set to be reduced by 12 people by March to save more than £1m a year.

The council, which employs more than 20,000 staff, expects to shed 1,000 jobs as part of its spending cuts.

No one from Solace was available for comment.

  • Members of the public will be allowed to witness the decision today to cut services including social care, libraries and youth workers.

Oxfordshire County Council announced the public gallery will be open for today’s meeting, when it is set to agree a £119m cut to its budget over the next four years.

But numbers will be limited to 20, on a first come first served basis, due to safety fears. Those unable to get into the gallery can watch by video link in a separate room.

The council controversially barred people from using the first-floor gallery at its full council meeting in January because it felt the narrow, spiral access staircase would be unsafe if hundreds descended on County Hall.

But shortly before that meeting began, the Conservative-run authority relented and allowed in 20 members of the public.

Council spokesman Paul Smith said: “The public gallery at County Hall has room to safely accommodate 20 people.

“When the gallery is full, people will be directed to the adjacent committee rooms, where a video link will provide coverage of the meeting.”