County Council spending cuts to continue
There will be no let-up in the savings that local councils have to find over the next few years no matter who wins the General Election, the leader of Devon County Council is warning.
John Hart says the authority has already found savings of £128 million following cuts in Government funding of 60 per cent in real terms from 2011 to 2016.
But he’s now warning that further cuts of £50 million will have to be made in the next financial year with £34 million the year after.
And, he says, Devon is finding it harder to balance its budget and still meet its core duties such as protecting children and supporting the elderly and vulnerable.
“We’re looking at every single aspect of our business with intense scrutiny,” said Mr Hart.
“That means protecting essential care services and meeting our most important local priorities will require ever more creative and radical solutions.”
The council is inviting people to help influence its decisions about how future savings could be made via its website, www.toughchoices.co.uk
The consultation will close at the end of January ahead of the council's 2015/16 budget round.
People are being asked to rate public services on a scale from 'essential' to 'not a priority'; to identify which services should have their budgets protected, or reduced, and whether they would be willing to pay more to protect some services; how they feel their community can play a part in supporting some services and what the council can do to help that happen.
Mr Hart will be taking the message across Devon as he begins a series of meetings with representatives of public bodies, including town and parish councillors, across the county to spell out the continuing challenge.
The first meeting will be in Exeter on Thursday (13 November) from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at Exeter Library.
Devon has reduced its workforce by around 3,000 posts since 2009, cut management costs by 30 per cent and frozen councillors’ allowances.
Back office costs and office accommodation have been cut by a third. Almost a hundred council properties have been sold or leases relinquished to make further savings and generate capital receipts.
Partnerships and joint ventures are making savings with the merger of services such as Devon and Somerset's Trading Standards and joint commissioning arrangements are in place for integrated care services.
And radical new ways of providing services for young people, library users, council care home residents and day service users are well underway - all designed to save money and to focus resources on supporting vulnerable people.
"We have done a lot but there is a lot more to do to find the savings the Government requires over the next few years," said Mr Hart.
"I have said from the start this was not going to be without pain and anyone who thought that cuts at this level would not hurt, were wrong.
"We have demonstrated that considerable savings can be made, but while some may hope that's the end of it, we have to dig deeper this coming year and again the year after.
“Between 2009 and 2017 Devon County Council’s spending will have reduced from £600 million a year to £400 million. And make no mistake, these cuts are set to keep coming as Labour’s Ed Balls has already committed to the same spending plans as the coalition Government should they win the General Election.
"So we're asking the public to help us make these decisions again. I want to go into this next budget round with a clear understanding of what is most important to people in Devon.
"We will continue to lobby the Government and individual Ministers for a fairer deal for the county.
"I will do my very best to deliver a budget that reflects what people want, but we should all be prepared to see more services delivered in different ways, and by different groups where we can no longer provide them."
