More cuts ahead as Telford & Wrekin Council budget may be hit further
More cuts will need to be found as Telford & Wrekin Council says its budget may be hit even further when the Government reveals its funding settlelment for local government near the end of the year.
Among the cost pressures for Telford & Wrekin will be the £3.1 million that the Council says it must save due to a 10 per cent reduction in its grant to support council tax benefit next year and a new council tax support scheme which it is now consulting on.
Another significant cost pressure will be a further shortfall for public health services currently provided by Telford & Wrekin PCT, which will be abolished next April. The Council will take on responsibility for these services which currently cost around £10.4 million, but for which the provisional allocation from Government is only £7.3 million. The Council is lobbying the Department of Health on this issue.
Meanwhile the Council will face growing pressure on its continuing health care budget, which faces a gap of around £5 million, which is currently only bridged by using one-off funding.
These pressures are on top of the £40 million savings that the Council has had to find over four years from 2010, after the Government announced huge grant cuts to Telford & Wrekin.
A report to the Council’s cabinet says that continuing pressure on national finances means that further cuts in grants to local government are likely, adding further strain on the Council’s budget.
Telford & Wrekin plans to meet this by improving the way it buys services and obtaining better value from its contracts, saving more through property rationlisation and making savings on non-staffing costs which have as low an impact as possible on services.
This will be on top of a restructuring programme to make services more efficient and the Council reducing its staff costs by 20 per cent by April 2013, with more than 840 posts going from the Council over three years. Since 2009, the number of senior managers has also been cut by 55 per cent, while earlier this year the salaries of the most senior officers were also cut.
Cllr Bill McClements, cabinet member for resources said: “We have already dealt with unprecendted cuts in grant since 2010 and the financial outllook for local government is bleak at a time when demand for many of our services, because of the economic situation, is increasing.
“We are now working up options to help us find new sources of income and for further savings which we will be looking to consult people on later this year after we know the Council’s grant settlement.”
The report will be discussed when the Council’s cabinet meets on September 20.
