Safety net of £1.25m for social care cuts in Telford
Five million pound cuts to adult social care in Telford will be softened by a £1.25 million safety net, Telford & Wrekin Council has announced.
The authority's leadership has released a revised version of its 2015/16 budget proposals, drawn up following a month-long consultation.
But it will still see £9 million slashed from council spending next year, with more than half of that expected to come from adult services.
However, the council said today its income over the coming year was going to be higher than first thought, with an extra £1.18 million coming from business rates, including from firms that opened at the end of last year at Southwater One in Telford town centre.
The council's solar farm at Wheat Leasows has also been switched on and is generating electricity giving the council another source of income – although the authority has yet to announce how much.
As a result, Councillor Bill McClements, cabinet member for finance and enterprise, said the administration had proposed an additional £1.25 million one-off funding for adult social services, and also managed to cut a planned £50,000 cut to the Arthog Outdoor Centre to £17,000.
The revised plans will go before the council's cabinet at a meeting next Thursday at Addenbrooke House.
Councillor McClements said: "Since we went out to consultation two things have changed on the funding side. The benefit of Telford being a growing town is that business rates are going to be stronger this year than anticipated by £1.185 million.
Our rate support grant is still being cut but it is not as much as we originally thought.
"We are putting that into our contingency pot so next year we will start off with a healthy contingency. Every year is getting tougher with cuts and savings so we have a strong contingency built in. We have reversed the cuts to the Arthog Outdoor Centre and we are pretty much deleting these cuts and savings after feedback from parents."
He said: "Regarding adult social care, we are making the safety net bigger. We are not stopping the cuts we are giving ourselves a safety net and if it gets bad we have money to allow us to spread the cuts and we will only use it if adult social services ask the cabinet to release the funds."
More than 1,600 people responded to Telford & Wrekin Council's consultation on its 2015/16 budget plans.
