British Council Outsource Finance
It has been recently disclosed that the British Council are outsourcing more than 100 jobs to India in a significant attempt to save the tax payer money. According to The Times it is believed to be the first time that the Civil Service or a quango has directly exported jobs to save costs. The decision to transfer employment opportunities, especially now, to Indian workers to fill finance and IT posts has infuriated unions, who fear that this could be the blueprint for Whitehall, and indeed the thin end of the wedge.
The council, which promotes British culture and language abroad, said that in an attempt to save £45 million, 500 of its 1,300 British workers would have to go in the next 18 months with one fifth of these posts are to be filled in India.
Recently the UK Treasury announced that unelected bodies funded fully/partially by Government (quangos) cost the taxpayer £64 billion a year and the reduction in number of quangos is imminent.
The British Council’s CEO Martin Davidson stated that out of the 500 jobs, Martin Davidson, 280 are permanent and the remainder are agency, part-time or contract staff.
Mr Davidson said that he hoped that most of the cuts could be made through voluntary redundancies. Final decisions about exactly which jobs will go to India will be taken in the next few weeks, but they are expected to include 58 finance posts, up to 40 IT posts and 15 posts for a new centre of excellence.
