The question has been asked whether remaining staff would be required to take on an increased, and in some cases unsustainable, workload.
There are 80 roles within the Greater London Authority (GLA) still at risk, senior officials have confirmed as City Hall was condemned for the “alarming” scale of job cuts. In March, City Hall stated that it needed to save about £10 million through cuts to staffing posts, and subsequently consulted on the first £7million of the figure through the reduction of 101 roles across some parts of the GLA, which employs over 1,500 people.
At the start of the process 189 members of staff were put at risk, though the figure now sits at 80. So far 39 at-risk staff have already had applications accepted for voluntary redundancy, 32 have been “assimilated” into the new structure, and 27 were redeployed into other GLA posts.
The process is set to be concluded by the beginning of July. After the consultation stage in April, the GLA accepted the trade union Unison’s alternative proposal for “ring fencing arrangements” – meaning staff will be given priority for any suitable alternative roles – as well as offering staff a four-week trial period in any role they are redeployed to.
GLA officials have also reinstated six posts initially highlighted for “deletion”, while another five selected for cuts could yet be restored. “In making those changes in response to the consultation feedback, it means that we will not achieve the full £7.2 million savings we consulted on,” GLA Chief Officer Mary Harpley told the London Assembly GLA Oversight Committee on Wednesday (May 20).
“I can’t change the plan to delete posts and still save the same money. We will not know the final figure that we’ve achieved through this first consultation until July.
“I estimate that we will still save about £6.6 million from this round of savings and efficiencies. The shortfall on this phase means that we will have to add that into the remaining phase of consultation, which we will plan to do in the autumn.”
However, the trade union Unison, which represents some GLA staff, delivered another scathing intervention on City Hall’s efficiency programme, suggesting it will leave “key parts of the authority seriously understaffed.”
London regional secretary Sara Gorton told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Job losses on this scale at the Greater London Authority are alarming and disappointing.
“These proposals will leave key parts of the authority seriously understaffed, and that will cause serious damage to public services for communities across London. UNISON has made clear its strong opposition to these changes and will to support the workers it represents who are affected.”
During the committee meeting, Green Party Assembly Member Caroline Russell asked Ms Harpley whether remaining staff would be required to take on an increased, and in some cases unsustainable, workload.
Ms Harpley said: “The new programs will have too be very efficient and effective in the way we plan to resource them…without putting unreasonable demands on teams that have been cut.”
She confirmed there would be an “extra layer of oversight” on affected teams to ensure “people aren’t being overloaded.”
The scale of the job cuts was first outlined in the 2026/27 GLA Budget, which said that “up to £10 million per year will need to be found through wider organisational savings” to mitigate the loss of a “parachute payment” that was designed to soften the blow of losing EU funding post-Brexit.
Conservative Assembly Member Alessandro Georgiou criticised the Mayor for excluding his own office from the scope of job cuts.
He told the LDRS: “Sadiq Khans mayoral team has increased in size significant since he became Mayor yet his appointees are now immune from job cuts at City Hall. This is fundamentally unfair and will do nothing other than depress morale at City Hall.”
Questioned about why this was, Ms Harpley responded: “I’ve been very clear with staff from the very beginning, we had agreed with the Mayor’s Office where we would be seeking efficiencies from.
“We need to, in the light of financial constraints, make sure our resources are used most efficiently as possible. And that’s what we developed the programme to do.
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