A presentation providing information on efficiency savings to be made for Bury Council’s 2015/16 budget.
Minutes:
Cllr Rishi Shori – Deputy Leader of the Council and Steve Kenyon – Assistant Director of Resources gave a presentation detailing the key financial issues facing the Authority and subsequent efficiency savings to be made for Bury Council’s 2015/16 budget.
The following key facts were presented:-
· For 2015/16, £16 million will be cut from budgets. This equates to a loss of £54 m (50%) of the budget in 5 years.
· This means the Council will need to prioritise key services at a time when residents’ needs and expectations are changing and demand for services is increasing.
· In order to do this the Council are exploring alternative ways of delivering services and reviewing organisational structures.
· For 2015/16 the Council have only received 1 year’s funding settlement information from the Government, which has yet to be confirmed.
· The Council’s core funding from Government is likely to be cut by 13% (to be confirmed).
· The Council will also face cuts to a number of grants received from the Government, for example Early Intervention and Education Services
grants. This is in addition to pressures from levies from other bodies and uncertainty following the localisation of Business Rates.
The meeting was informed of the following key measures to address the cuts:-
· Alternative Service Delivery Models - £3.420m
· Third Sector - £0.200m
· Income Generations - £2.012m
· Better use of External Funding - £3.376m
· Savings from the way the Council buys things - £1.320m
· Managing Assets - £0.726m
· T & C’s, Restructuring and vacant posts - £3.229m
· Improved Recycling - £0.862m
· Reduction in provision of services - £0.662m
Bury Residents were being informed of the financial issues facing the Authority as part of a consultation process for the 2015/16 budget and were being asked to consider changing expectations about service delivery; working more closely with individuals and communities to deliver services ie. volunteering/self management; a stronger focus on demand reduction such as self care/early intervention/personal responsibility; examining alternative ways of delivering remaining Council services and changing the way residents access services – “digital by default”.
In terms of the next steps, it was reported that from 6 November 2014 to 9 January 2015 the Council will be consulting residents and stakeholders on the package of cuts needed for 2015/16. This will be followed by a review of the consultation feedback which will be fed into the budget setting process for 2015/16. The Council will debate the 2015/16 budget and formally approve a package of cuts. Residents were informed of the various ways they can contact the consultation team and leave comments by 9 January 2015.
The Chair invited questions/comments from the audience:-
· Community pay-back (CPB) – could Bury not make further good use of this?
The Council were looking into all alternative means of service delivery. CPB had been used in an ad-hoc way previously. If there is further scope for this then this will be considered.
· Council Staffing issues – would the Council be willing to cut the number of higher paid senior officer posts as part of cuts?
The number of Directorships had been considered and reduced. The Council hoped to avoid compulsory redundancies.
· Cuts in Manchester City Council had affected services in Manchester – concerns raised that this would happen to Children’s Services in Bury.
Manchester City Council had not seen as big as a reduction in income as Bury over 5 years. The Council would be looking at social enterprise initiatives – there was the need to keep the public sector ethos.
· Close Park had received funding which had had to be returned due to the lack of staff/resources to initiate this funding received – concerns raised as to how much cutting back would be taking place.
· Would the Council look at reducing the Council member allowances?
Councillors had already reduced their allowance and the number of Cabinet posts had also been reduced.
· Had the Council an estimate for the number of compulsory redundancy which may be necessary?
No such figures were available, the Council were hoping to avoid compulsory redundancies through a programme of voluntary redundancies, flexible retirement and redeployment.
· When the settlement figure for 2015/16 is finally made available from the Government, had the Council factored in a worse case scenario in terms of forecasted figures?
This had been considered and factored in to the proposals.
The Chair, Cllr Briggs concluded the debate by explaining that these were unprecedented times for the Council and that any changes would be made in consultation with Bury communities. Members of the public were asked to read the proposals and to get involved in the process.
It was agreed:
That the information provided be noted and Cllr Shori and Steve Kenyon be thanked for their contribution to the meeting.