Falkirk Council staff will get extra holiday for King's coronation despite £260,000 cost
dailyrecord.co.ukFalkirk Council staff will get an extra day's holiday to mark the coronation of King Charles, after councillors rejected a suggestion that another holiday should be moved to cover it.
Labour and Conservative members of Falkirk Council 's executive, along with Independent councillor Robert Spears, voted to give staff both May 1 and May 8 as a public holiday.
Officers had urged members to move the existing May 1 holiday for the royal event in a bid to save cash. A report to councillors said that the cost to the council of an additional public holiday would be £260,000, at a time when budgets have never been more under pressure.Read more: Falkirk foster carers who looked after 117 children step down after nearly three decadesThe SNP administration suggested a compromise, which would have meant offering staff a 'fixed day' rather than a public holiday.
This would reduce the cost by half, as it would have meant that staff who had to work on the day would not get overtime.The leader of the council, Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, warned members that the cost of funding the holiday "could be people's jobs" as the money will have to be found from budgets that are already under severe pressure."That's unfortunately the reality of our finances right now," she said.But both Labour and Conservative councillors agreed that it was wrong to cancel the May 1 holiday, which traditionally celebrates International Workers' Day.
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