PLANS to privatise several hundred jobs at County Hall in Maidstone have been placed under the spotlight by a committee of backbench councillors. The decision by KCC’s cabinet scrutiny committee to formally “call in” the proposal follows an earlier decision by the Tory administration to abandon moves to privatise the jobs of 800 staff in IT, personnel and finance departments.

At a special hearing, the committee took evidence from union officials and officers about the plan. KCC is now considering bids by outside companies to privatise the jobs of staff responsible for managing council offices, property and land, along with various environment services.

Altogether, between three and four hundred jobs could be affected in three departments. They are Kent Facilities Management; Kent Estates Management and Kent Environment Consultancy. Opposition parties and unions have raised concerns about the shake-up and are seeking assurances that if the move goes ahead, staff will not be adversely affected.

Labour scrutiny committee chairman Cllr Mike Eddy said: “We want to make sure that any concerns raised by staff and their union representatives will be fully taken into account when the county council’s cabinet makes its decision.”

It was important that all three political parties were involved in such a decision, he added. KCC is due to consider whether to press ahead with the plan at a cabinet meeting in December. If private contractors do take over the work, a transfer of jobs is scheduled to take place next April.