£12.2m cuts by the city council – and more on way
CHILDREN’S CENTRES TO CLOSE, JOBS CUT AND NEW BULKY WASTE CHARGE
NOTTINGHAM City Council plans to axe six of its nine children’s centres, cut its workforce by 91 full-time or equivalent posts and introduce a charge for bulky waste collections in the first phase of plans to reduce its debt.
But the plans only address £12.2m (44 percent) of its required £28m savings.
The Labour-controlled council will reveal more proposals at the start of next year for a further £15.7m in cuts.
The draft budget documents come at a time of mounting pressure from the Government as it keeps a watchful eye over the council’s road to financial recovery.
The plans will go before the authority’s executive board next week for approval. They outline five key savings:
■ Reducing youth and play services – saving £615,000
■ Closing six of the city’s nine Children’s Centres, moving to a “hub” model – saving £331,000
■ Reducing the frequency of some Linkbus services and increasing Medilink fares – saving £371,000
■ Introducing charges for second and third parking permits – saving £412,500
■ Introducing a charge for bulky waste collections – saving £80,000.
There will also be a workforce reduction of 91 posts, 23 of them already vacant.
Finance portfolio holder Councillor Sam Webster, who also represents Castle ward, says the proposed savings are “largely” the result of the decline in Government funding in the last decade.
He says “it is not a political point, it is a fact.”
He added that Nottingham gets £100m less every year from the Government and that, despite this, the city council must by law fund statutory services such as adult social care and children’s services.
These areas are experiencing soaring demand, he said.
On top of this there is then the “additional oversight” from the Improvement and Assurances Board, but Councillor Webster remained adamant that the proposed cuts were in “large part” likely to have happened even without the council’s financial plight.
Councillor Webster said: “I am frustrated.
“I know these services are vital to families and young people and we have desperately tried to protect them.
“[But] every council is struggling with the cost of growth in statutory services.
“Unfortunately we will be spending £14m more next year on adults and children, so we are having to transfer our resources from discretionary to the statutory.”
The savings of £28m for the 2022/23 period will rise to £38.1m in 2025/26.
That was largely down to cost pressures from children’s and adults services, with cost pressures of £14.1m in 2022/23 rising to £34.3m in 2025/26.
A total of £3.9m of the savings over the next period will require public consultation, including separate consultations for the closures of children’s centres.
All of these pressures come as the council’s financial recovery is monitored by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities following the collapse of Robin Hood Energy.
Mentioned in the budget is the fact that the council’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) – showing the Improvement and Assurances Board how the authority plans to balance its books over the next four years – will not be ready until February next year.
This will not please the board’s chairman, Sir Tony Redmond, who wanted to see the plan by the end of November.
The MTFP currently estimates a proposed 1.99 percent increase in basic council tax from April and an additional 1 percent increase in the adult social care precept as permitted by the Government.
Speaking of how the Robin Hood Energy failure had hit the budget, Councillor Webster referred to similarly struggling local authorities such as Sheffield.
He added: “It’s not that’s it’s none of the issue, it is looking at what are the biggest factors that affects the budget of the council?
“You have to look at the proportionality of these issues.
“We dealt with that issue with our reserves last year and we have replenished some of those. It is a one-off issue.”