Questions for Council employees regarding the Williams Commission

) Will TUPE apply- Thee were concerns over whether TUPE would have applied during the reorganisation of the Wales Audit Office. TUPE had to be specified as applying, in order to avoid any doubt then the application of TUPE needs to be specified preferably on the face of the bill

2) Will there be added years for staff taking early retirement- Historically staff taking early retirement have been given enhancements of up to 6 2/3 years in order to facilitate their retirement, will this enhancement be available for any who are seeking early retirement on reorganisation.

3) Will there be actuarial reductions for early access to pensions- At the last reorganisation there was no actuarial reduction for those accessing pensions early. If such a reduction occurred it would seriously affect the pensions people would receive or they would spend the time between reorganisation and their expected retirement date.

4) How will different conditions on joining authorities be dealt with- Different authorities have different terms and conditions e.g. Neath Port Talbot salary reduction and working hours reduction. What will happen to these terms on merger.

5) If it costs £100 million ( I believe the cost will be substantially higher) how will it be funded. If it is funded from the local government settlement how many jobs will be lost. Where else could it be funded from and whilst many councils have fairly large reserves much of that is earmarked.

6) Why is it expected that ICT costs will be low- ICT costs can rapidly escalate when different systems are being merged. There will be data transfer costs, contracts that will still need to be paid and possible compatibility problems.

7) If it goes over cost how will that be funded- Will jobs and services be cut or will the Welsh Government underwrite such costs.

8) Will there need to be a new job evaluation and if so how will costs be funded- As different authorities produced different grades for the same job, on reorganisation will these need to be addressed because otherwise we will see different salaries for the same job across the new authorities.

9) How much will it cost to change signs, headed paper- Whilst not a substantial sum, the changing of signs and headed paper across Wales will add up.

10) Will travel costs be paid for staff relocated- On reorganisation a number of staff will have to travel, possibly long distances to their new site. Will all staff be paid travel costs and how will this be funded

11) Will there be alary protection and if so for how long