Council continues work to meet savings targets

Shropshire Council is continuing its work to make massive budget savings, as reductions in Government grants and other financial pressures lead to revised targets for future years. 

The long-term financial strategy is being discussed by the council’s Cabinet on Wednesday 17 October 2012, which gives details on the projected budget position from 2013/14 to 2022/23. 

The council has already put plans in place to save around £85 million over four years, including reductions of £38 million which had been made by March this year.  Shropshire Councillors have also already agreed a raft of savings totalling about £20 million in the current financial year, and almost £21 million in 2013/14. 

Savings have involved a range of council service areas, including changes to staff terms and conditions, a senior management review, improvements in adult social care services, and renegotiating IT contracts. 

Finance officers have always said the overall savings targets would be fluid and dependent on a variety of economic factors, such as changes to Government funding and external spending. 

The latest position is that the savings target for 2013/14 could increase by £9.6 million, due to the loss of some Government grants and some anticipated savings not being made in the adult social care assessment and eligibility area.  However, these figures could still change, and won’t be finalised until the Government releases the Final Financial Settlement in February 2013.

Council leader, Keith Barrow, said:

“We all know the current economic climate is incredibly difficult for everyone, and these latest figures just confirm that there are more tough times still to come.  Frankly, it’s quite clear that Government funding is only likely to fall over the coming years, which is why councils have to change the way they operate and deliver services for people. 

“We are leading the way in Shropshire by doing things like setting up our own trading company, which will allow us to make profit to invest back into council services so we can try to weather the storm.  The council has done really well to find a huge amount of savings over the past two years with little impact to essential frontline services, and we will do all we can to carry on with that.” 

The report being considered by Cabinet can be seen by clicking this link.]