Nottingham City Council has drafted proposals 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 as part of the first phase of plans to balance its books.
The first phase of proposals however only addresses £12.2m (or 44%) of its need to make £28m of savings, meaning the council will then reveal additional proposals at the beginning of next year for a further £15.7m.
Draft budget documents, released today (November 8), come at a time of mounting pressure from the Government as it keeps a watchful eye over the council's road to financial recovery.
Draft budget proposals, which will go for approval during an executive board meeting next week, outline five key savings.
These are:
- 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 which vacant.
Labour and Co-operative councillor Sam Webster, the portfolio holder for finance 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 political point, it is a fact" that Nottingham gets £100m less every year from the Government and, despite this, must by law fund its statutory services such as adult social care and children's services.
These areas are experiencing soaring demand.
On top of this there is then the "additional oversight" from the Improvement and Assurances Board, but councillor Webster remains adamant the proposed cuts were in "large-part" likely already.
Councillor Webster told Nottinghamshire Live: "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.
This is 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 The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities following the collapse of Robin Hood Energy.
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Mentioned in the budget is the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP), which would show the Improvement and Assurances how it plans to balance its books over the next four years, will not be ready until February 2022.
This may not best please the chair of the Improvement and Assurances Board, Sir Tony Redmond, who wanted to see the plan by the end of November.
The MTFP currently estimates a proposed increase in basic council tax from April 2022 by 1.99% and an additional 1% increase in the adult social care precept as permitted by the Government.
Speaking of how the Robin Hood Energy failures had impacted the budget, councillor Webster referenced 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."
