Services to be hit hard in next cuts
Additional support services are looking like they will be hit hard in Argyll and Bute Council’s next round of cuts.
The council has revealed it will have to make around £9.2 million in savings in 2020/21.
Councillors will meet today (Thursday October 17) at the Policy and Resource Committee to vote on next year’s budget.
Two services at high risk are community learning and development as well as pupil support assistants.
Community learning and development is set to lose £246,000 by 2021-22, potentially resulting in the loss of seven full-time equivalent positions. This comes after the sector lost 17.1 full-time equivalent posts last year – more than half of the services staff at that time.
Some 14.7 full-time equivalent pupil support assistants posts are expected to be cut in a bid to save £317,500.
A reliable source, who did not want to be named, spoke to The Oban Times earlier this week about the cuts.
They said: ‘Anything that’s not statutory and nailed down is up for cuts. It’s crazy. It will decimate the service. The biggest issue here is who this will impact – not just the workers, but the young people and the neediest adults. They will be hurt the most and they can’t do anything about it.’
Council leader Councillor Aileen Morton said: ‘There are no easy options left for making more savings. We’ve delivered £57 million in savings since 2010, and we’ve had the third highest cut in funding of all of Scotland’s councils in recent years, and estimates show that we will have to deliver another £9.2 million of savings next year.
‘The scale of the savings potentially required means that all options open to councils to take must be explored and identified, including some of the most valued services – the services which, if things were different, we would like to protect and grow.
‘The majority of the council’s funding comes from the Scottish Government. As we don’t expect to know until January next year exactly how much funding this council will get for next year, we have to identify as many savings options as possible just now so we can deliver a balanced budget in February.
‘We recently secured a rural growth deal of £50 million for Argyll and Bute. While this is great news, this one-off funding cannot be used to bridge gaps in our budget. It must be used to deliver specific economic development objectives to be agreed with the UK and Scottish governments.’ The proposals will go to a full council meeting which is scheduled to take place today (Thursday October 17) and, if they are agreed, the council will run a consultation asking local residents for their views on service priorities.