Council approves savings for next two years

Shropshire Council has approved its budget savings for the next two financial years, as it continues work to save around £85 million over three years.

Cost reductions of £42 million will already have been made by March this year, and council has already agreed cuts of £16 million for the next two years.

Now further proposals have been approved which would save an extra £23.6 million over the next two years to complete the total savings to be made by the council.

This means councillors have agreed over £80 million of savings while protecting frontline services and safeguarding jobs.

The report which was approved by a meeting of the full council today (Thursday 23 February 2012) included an agreement to freeze council tax for the next financial year, which would mean there has been no increase in council tax for Shropshire taxpayers since 2010.

The savings cover a range of council service areas, including improvements in adult social care services, renegotiating IT contracts, and a review of the effectiveness of the public protection service.  Detailed plans to put the changes required in place during this year were also outlined in the council report, and consultation will take place on these, if there is any major impact on people currently using the services.

Council leader, Keith Barrow, said:

“The budget for the next financial year has been a challenge, as we deal with unprecedented funding cuts from central government.  However, we are working creatively to provide services in a different way, which not only saves money but will often result in better outcomes for local people.  For example, we are finding better ways to help older people live independently in their own homes for longer, rather than them needing residential care.

“There is a still a lot of work to be done as we work to put in place all our savings targets, but we are making good progress.”

Chief executive, Kim Ryley, said:

“We are about halfway towards our target of saving £85 million and the council has recently been praised by the Audit Commission for our approach to managing well this major reduction in our spending.  2012 is likely to be an important year of transition, as we start to visibly introduce new ways of working, whilst keeping the high quality of what we provide for local people.  This will be the only way we can meet the demands and preferences of our residents, whilst keeping our costs as low as possible.”

The agenda for the council meeting, which includes the financial strategy (report 10), can be viewed by clicking this link.