Councillor suggests recruiting 'more mature people' to avoid maternity costs
Councillor Terry Mendies asked the Denbighshire County Council meeting why "more mature people" were not recruited, faced with the "extra cost" of agency staff.
Monday 4 December 2023 17:04, UK
A councillor has been criticised for suggesting "more mature people" should be recruited as care workers to avoid maternity costs.
The comments were made at Denbighshire County Council's performance scrutiny committee last week, during a debate on the corporate risk register report.
Councillor Terry Mendies said if maternity leave had to be paid "for a period of six months, then we've got to probably use agency staff to cover them and that's an extra cost".
"So why would you not target the recruitment to be a bit more… to recruit more mature people," he added.
One councillor could be seen with her head in her hands after the comments.
In response, the council's corporate director, Gary Williams, said the local authority recruits "without favour of anyone in respect of any protected characteristics".
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"People who apply for jobs are recruited on the basis of their knowledge, their skills and their experience, not their gender or their age," he added.
"The local authority applies all of the appropriate equalities, safeguards in respect of its recruitment process and its recruitment process is fully compliant with all of that."
Councillor Julie Matthews said during the meeting that Cllr Mendies's comment was "wholly inappropriate".