ATTRACTIVE “golden goodbye” packages will continue to be offered to eligible Scottish Borders Council staff as the local authority seeks to cut its direct wage bill by £10m over the next five years.

That commitment to “make the best use of our people” is explicit in draft budget proposals which the local authority has put out to public consultation in a bid to save over £20m in its revenue spending by 2019/20.

The austerity blueprint was approved on the same day that the latest round of early retirement and voluntary severance deals was endorsed by councillors. A senior legal manager on a gross salary of £65,000 is one of six SBC employees who will depart – out of 13 who applied to go in the last three months.

The others are administrative and clerical assistants in education, social work and business support on salaries ranging from £20,000 to £29,000.

Councillors heard that the deals would incur one-off costs of £195,000, but would result in annual recurring savings of £177,000.

All of the posts will now be deleted from SBC’s staffing establishment.

Assurances were sought that the loss of the manager, a trained solicitor, would not impact adversely on the work of the council’s legal department.

Councillor Michael Cook, who has special responsibility for human resources, said all the deals had been approved by service directors.

The council hopes to cut its wage bill by continuing to offer such early departure packages and by outsourcing a number of key functions.

For example, the impending creation next spring of an arms-length organisation to deliver all adult care services will save SBC an estimated £2.5m in staff costs over five years.

As reported last week, the council is seeking the views of the Borders public on its cost-cutting plans by January 31 before approving a detailed revenue budget for 2015/16 – and indicative spending programmes for the following four years – in February.

Readers wishing to have their say can do so online at scotborders.budgetsimulator.com