120 jobs set to go as council face vicious £34.5m budget cuts
About 120 jobs are set to be lost as North Lanarkshire Council are forced to make £34.5m brutal cuts to their budget.
And council leader Jim Logue has warned that investment in new schools, houses and roads will be hit as the Scottish Government announced the cut to the local authority in 2017/18 by 3.8 per cent.
A council spokesman told the Wishaw Press said that no decision has been taken to put up council tax or not to pay for £34.5m of brutal cuts.
Councillor Logue said: “We have now had time to analyse the Scottish Government’s budget announcement and, put simply, although there is a £400million increase to the amount of money the Scottish Government is getting, they have decided once again that local services should bear the brunt of the cuts.
“In North Lanarkshire, that is likely to mean £ 34.5million of cuts once cost pressures and inflation are taken into account.
“That’s a huge potential impact on vital local services.
“There is no increase in capital spending, which means that investment in new schools, houses and roads will stagnate.
“What the draft budget shows is that local councils like North Lanarkshire are being hit unfairly. But we are ambitious for our communities and the local economy and we will do everything we can before the budget is finalised to demand a guaranteed fair deal for North Lanarkshire.”
The council will now work on producing its own budget for next year, with decisions due in February.
Councillor Logue said: “We have always tried to minimise the impact on vital frontline services and we will continue to do that. We have also had a commitment to minimising the possibility of compulsory redundancies and we will look to continue with that policy.
“But this constant attack on local services in year after year of budget cuts has to stop.”
The Wishaw Press understands the council plan to offset the cuts via base budget adjustments and other measures by £11.97 million. This means that £22.69 million needs to be cut.
And it is believed a phase two restructure will achieve £6 million of savings, leaving a balance of £16.69 million still to be cut.
The council won’t show what they plan to cut further until they release their proposed budget next month.
Marie Quigley, branch secretary at Unison North Lanarkshire, said: ‘ It’s frustrating that we will have to wait to January to see the detail of the cuts and the extent of job losses to come, but at this stage there is no point in speculating where the axe will fall.
“We have already have a commitment from the council that there will be no compulsory redundancies, but they need to go further.’
“Another year of politically driven austerity cuts have the potential to devastate jobs and services in our community and Unison urge the council to commit again to no compulsory redundancies, no loss of wages and no privatisation of council services.
“We are currently in talks to sign the council up to Unison’s Ethical Care Charter which guarantees high quality care services and a commitment to keep home care in house. So far indications are positive that the council will sign up and we will welcome that guarantee to protect jobs and communities.”
Unison and its sister unions, Unite and GMB will publish a ‘Union Manifesto for North Lanarkshire’ in the new year.