Thank you for highlighting the recent assault mounted on support care staff by Oxfordshire County Council (Oxford Mail, March 20).

Hearty congratulations to Unison for the support given to its members and the successful outcome in restoring the proposed wage reduction.

Interestingly, the amount of money these proposals were projected to save the local authority was £600,000.

Taking into account the salary of Joanna Simons, the chief executive and the other six directors of services, more than this amount of savings could have been made just by cutting their seven posts, even before the 10 per cent rises are added.

Considering the crudeness of their actions and the cost of 500 letters sent to care workers to apologise for these actions, council spokesman Barbara McSweeney is wrong to say no further comment will be made by the authority.

Every council taxpayer in Oxfordshire is paying towards these salaries and the operating costs of the council so, as one of them, I am asking for an explanation of their actions.

I would like to know who made the decision or who floated the proposal if this was a committee matter. Was it ever voted upon in committee? If so, who supported it? There is much yet to be explained.

Savings can be made in cutting senior staff, especially when they lack the basic skills of successful staff management and the inability to support vulnerable people requiring care.

Joyce Ruiz, Waverley Avenue, Kidlington