Worcestershire County Council could need £22m extra cuts

7:30am Wednesday 24th October 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By William Tomaney

AN EXTRA £22 million of cuts are likely to be needed at Worcestershire County Council, it is forecast.

The council’s medium-term financial plan, discussed during an overview and scrutiny performance board meeting at County Hall on Wednesday last week suggested the authority’s BOLD (Better Outcomes Lean Delivery) programme could also be extended by a year.

BOLD was launched in October, 2009 to save £45 million from the county council’s budget over three years. The figure rose to £60 million to £70 million over four years and now stands at £90 million over five years.

Even that, however, is unlikely to be enough, with the medium-term plan predicting a budget gap of £900,000 in 2013/14, followed by a £3.7 million hole in 2015/16 and a predicted £17.7 million gap in the balance sheet in 2016/17.

It means an extra £22.3 million in total will have to be found by the end of that financial year to fill the gap.

The council, halfway through the second year of BOLD, has already slashed £43.5 million from its budget and is aiming to reach £50 million by April, 2013.

The scrutiny board heard 12 programmes would help the council claw money back, including shared services with neighbouring counties, developing a commissioning organisation and spending less on council buildings.

Council Leader, Conservative Adrian Hardman, said: “We have made significant progress in terms of saving money and while we have to be clear more is needed, we believe now is the time to be talking to residents about how the council will change.

“Although change can be unsettling sometimes, we have a real opportunity to transform what we do and how we do it and deliver high-quality and cost-effective services for taxpayers, despite our obvious budget pressures.”

The report predicts the base budget will shrink from £338 million in 2012/13 to £325.7 million in 2016/17 and financial settlements for 2013/14 and 2014/15 from central Government are not yet known.

Comments(1)

Stephen Brown says...
8:29am Wed 24 Oct 12

The ACTUAL savings figures were £70million over the period.

The Tory council had already 'extrapolated' it out to mean £90million in their relish to support Tory-led Government cuts.

And what? Now they want another £22.3 million?!

What it actually means is that Government policies are not working and until those in Government change course, it will just keep getting worse. But as the Tories don't know any different, it will just get worse.

I would actually take issue with this level of cuts meaning 'high quality' services. What it will mean is poorer quality of services all farmed out to the private sector, so instead of money being spent on providing a service it will help line the pockets of shareholders - another Tory mantra.

It is also my understanding that council's like Wychavon are unhappy with that same 'quality of service' gained from 'shared services' and are moving to pull some services back.

I think the penny is starting to drop in smaller councils that the more they 'share services', the poorer the service and less control they have. Not only that but probably more importantly, smaller councils are voting themselves out of existence and actually making UNITARY status (one big council across Worcestershire for all services) more likely.

I sense some re-positioning will go on as councillors in some areas seek to preserve their cosy little numbers and now don't want a rush to council integration and prefer thier own control. Too late folks, the door's already well and truly open wide and you opened it.

Unitary status is looking more and more likely and unless it's done voluntarily, which won't happen, it may well be imposed on us by a new Government in 2015 - and that will be a sad day for local democracy whether its voluntarily or by imposition. A super-sized council is what none of us should hope for as it will be even more remote and authoritarian than the current lot at county hall.

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