Windfall cash plans up for discussion
Extending free childcare and reducing the planned cuts to frontline services have been proposed as potential ways to spend the additional £5.4million South Lanarkshire Council will receive as part of the local government settlement.
Scottish Finance Secretary Derek Mackay confirmed last week that he would increase the payment to South Lanarkshire Council to £611m for the 2019/2020 financial year.
Council officers argue £1.5million is needed to relieve pressure on children and family services, but have set out a range of options for the remaining £3.9m.
They say it could fund the previously mooted Free at Three initiative.
This would see free childcare offered to a youngster from the date of their third birthday, rather than from the start of the following term.
If undertaken, this would cost £2m a year.
It is proposed the remaining funds could be used to reduce the current £13m savings package by the balance of £1.9m.
However, councillors could vote to put the full £3.9m towards reducing the savings needed next year, or transfer the money to reserves to bridge the 2020/2021 savings gap.
A spokeswoman for the group of independent councillors at South Lanarkshire welcomed the possible funding for the Free at Three initiative.
She said: “We have been told the part year cost for funding this will be £1.3m and it is still a priority for us. We would expect the administration to look for a way of doing that.
“We have made them aware we want this from August 2019. This is something we will pursue and continue to push for.
“However, this is something the Scottish Government should be doing.
“They have a commitment to early years, which is to be commended, but we still have this silly anomaly depending on when the child’s third birthday is.”
The potential spending options for the £5.4m were included in a report to be put before councillors at today’s meeting of South Lanarkshire Council’s executive committee.
The current planned cuts would see 139.4 full time equivalent (FTE) posts scrapped in 2019/2020 and 20.44 FTE in relation to South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture Limited.
However the council is confident that the majority of these job cuts – approximately 92 – can be achieved through anticipated turnover, vacant posts and the removal of temporary posts.
The balance of 68.7 FTE posts in the council and 8.49 FTE posts in South Lanarkshire Leisure will be achieved through a combination of redeployment and voluntary severance/early retiral.
The report suggests following councillors’ consideration of the options, a final paper on the 2019/2020 budget will be prepared for the February 27 meeting.