The Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, Cllr Howard Sykes MBE, has condemned the cost of a mailshot to over 8,000 Council Staff and Councillors that cost rate-payers more than a whopping £4,600.
Information recently received by Cllr Sykes following a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) has revealed that the mailshot cost the equivalent of 55 pence per person in production and postage, and that does not include any hidden staff costs.
Commenting he said: “55p per person might not seem a lot and £4,600 may seem very little when compared to the Council’s overall budget, but this is an unnecessary expense at a time when the Council is obliged to save many millions from its budget. It is indicative of a corporate mind-set that has not adjusted to the new financial reality.”
“We simply cannot afford to continue spending money on old-fashioned postal mail-shots when it is so easy to communicate electronically and to distribute envelopes to elected members and staff via pigeon-holes and line managers.”
“Given our new financial reality, Labour is continuing to fail need to get a grip on basics such as this. The Council needs to think and act differently – we need to ask is this necessary and if so how can we do it most cost-effectively. That was clearly not the case with this matter. How many other times does this happen?”
Cllr Sykes first drew public attention to the mail-out in November of last year.
At that time, he expressed his disappointment that all sixty Councillors and thousands of Council staff had received by post details of the Council staff discount scheme operated by Vectis, as well as a membership card:
“Whilst offering discounts to staff at a time when pay restraint is in place is welcome, is it really the best use of ratepayers’ money to incur the cost of an all-out mailing when Councillors have their own postal pigeon-holes in the Civic Centre, where mail is regularly left for them and when line managers could distribute envelopes to staff in the workplace by hand?”
“Worse still, the mail-out was a blanket effort to every Councillor and every staff member. This failed to take into account those who have already signed up for the scheme.”
FOI response below:
Dear Councillor Sykes,
Please find below a response to your request to the Chief Executive for information on the Council staff discount mailing scheme.
The mailshot was produced as part of the staff benefit scheme’s promotion and went to 8,300 people (breakdown below). The cost of production and postage equated to 55p per person and totalled £4,615.93. This included the printing of the envelope, insertion of the letter, leaflet and card and distribution by second class mail. As this was undertaken by our benefits partner there was no staffing time spent by the Council.
| Area | Number |
| Oldham Council workforce | 2775 |
| Oldham Schools | 4502 |
| Oldham Care and Support | 400 |
| Oldham Care and Support at Home | 65 |
| Elected Members | 60 |
| Foster Carers | 146 |
| Adult Carers | 52 |
| Surplus for new starters, lost cards etc | 300 |
The take up rates post mailshot are not available, however, this is something that we have asked our benefits partner to provide going forward.