Torbay Council considers 'fire and re-hire' in pensions wrangle

'It would only be as a last resort and not a decision that we would take lightly'

Controversial 'fire and re-hire' methods could be used by Torbay Council as a last resort to solving a wrangle over staff pensions.

Angry workers say feelings are running high over the prospect of the policy, in which staff are dismissed and then re-appointed on new terms. Government guidelines say the practice should only be used when all else has failed.

It became notorious during the pandemic in high-profile national cases that saw employers attempting to sack employees and then re-hire them on considerably worse deals. There is no suggestion of that happening in the current Torbay case.

It is understood that the staff involved are former employees of the Torbay Development Agency (TDA), which was dissolved in 2023 after the bay had sunk to the bottom of a national performance table.

Wholly owned by the council, it was designed to promote economic development and regeneration in the bay, but councillors decided it had ‘had its day’. They pledged that there would be no redundancies as a result of its demise.

Now Torbay's Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling is calling for reassurances on behalf of worried workers.

He said he is ‘deeply troubled’ about the issue which concerns pension arrangements for former TDA staff who transferred to the council.

He said the situation had developed over a number of years since the TDA was created in 2011.

“The inconsistent application of pension rights, where some staff were permitted to remain in one pension scheme while others were placed in a different one, has created understandable resentment among employees,” he said.

Dozens of staff are currently benefitting from council contributions to both pension schemes, and Mr Darling acknowledged that the situation was neither fair nor financially sustainable.

But, he said: “I must express my strong reservations about using dismissal and re-engagement to force staff into new contractual terms.

“This approach is widely considered an unfair employment practice and should be avoided wherever possible. Fire and re-hire tactics undermine the council’s reputation as a fair and responsible employer.”

A Torbay Council spokesperson said consultations on the pension arrangements of around 80 staff had been going on since November, and will continue until the end of this month.

The spokesperson added: “We have informed staff that one ultimate outcome of the consultation could be to dismiss and re-engage staff. However, this would only be as a last resort and not a decision that we would take lightly.”

The council says it had tried to reach a collective agreement with trade unions without success, and as a result had begun consulting individuals.

It is now liaising with ACAS, the nationwide Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, in a bid to reach agreement.