Shropshire Council budget cuts round-up: What’s being cut and how much will it save?

The authority is facing a £62 million shortfall in its funding for the coming financial year, despite a 4.99 per cent council tax increase, and is having to cut its cloth accordingly, it says. The savings target comes on top of £41m of budget cuts in 23/24.

At a full council meeting last week, the council’s administration said the level of Government funding provided would be unlikely to maintain services at the same levels as the previous year, in the face of rising costs in inflation and social care.

After the approval of the budget by a narrow majority, 300 full-time staff roles are now at risk of redundancy as the council seeks to shrink its staff numbers, although union bosses have vowed to fight the job cuts after a staff meeting earlier this week. The authority currently employs around 4,900 people in the county.

The majority of the council’s £62m savings target is made up of cost savings (£39.5m), while others are expected to be raised through reducing or offloading demand for services (£6.77m). A further £2m will be raised by charging more for existing services and £8.6m will be generated through new income schemes. Around £4.7m will be raised by cessation of services, including the sell-off of some council buildings.

Some of the other detailed budget saving measures include:

Staffing

Staff redundancies and restructures listed in the council’s financial strategy document are forecast to save around £5.2m, with a further £8.5m proposed to be saved by “reviewing and resizing overall council staffing beyond those listed elsewhere”, although no further detail is offered in the report.

Around £710,000 is forecast to be saved by reducing the council’s senior management levels.

Supplier costs

A headline-grabbing £12m scheme to reduce costs in the supply chain, proposed by the Green party in their alternative budget, is included in the cost savings figures. The proposals revolve around negotiating contracts with local suppliers to reduce costs and create a ‘carbon-neutral’ supply chain, which Green councillors say has reduced overall spending by up to 10 per cent in other authorities.

The authority has also allocated £3.67m worth of savings to reducing the council’s overall spend with third party suppliers.

Buildings

The council plans to reduce the amount of buildings it operates, in an effort to save money on maintenance and upkeep from its revenue budget, which it hopes will save £3m this year, with a further £3m forecast for 25/26.

The early disposal of Shirehall, which it has committed to leaving in favour of a proposed multi-agency hub building in Shrewsbury town centre, could save £300,000.

Waste and Recycling

The authority has resurfaced a scheme to introduce charges for household green waste collections, which is expected to raise about £4m. Two of the council’s five recycling centres could also be set to close, for an apparently meagre saving of around £14,000.

Libraries and Leisure Centres

The council says it will “review library services to ensure maximum efficiencies” which it says will include funding reviews and “reshaping/reductions of services”. No cost saving is forecast for the coming year, but around £330,000 is earmarked for the following two years. A press release issued by the council said it would “start discussions with local partners and communities to see how they could continue outside of council control”.

A review and “potential reduction” of leisure provision is forecast to achieve cost savings of around £350,000 in 2025/26.

Social care

Crucial savings centred around the area which the council says is its main cost pressure, adult and children’s social care, include a £2.2m saving allocated to reducing formal care arrangements with the use of technology, and signposting residents to community and voluntary support.

Reducing the amount of people in long-term social care by using the council’s re-ablement service is expected to raise around £1.5m, while a care hours reconciliation identified in the report could bring in £2.3m of new income for the budget. Reducing 24-hour support for supported living accommodation through the use of technology could raise £1.2m.

Miscellaneous

A number of other new income proposals make up the balance, including increasing the amount of income the council brings in from its cultural assets such as the Shropshire Council-owned Theatre Severn and Old Market Hall cinema, and charging for car parks at council offices.

Some councillors at last week’s budget meeting were left nonplussed by a line in the budget which reads “Cross directorate structural efficiencies and synergies alongside framework utilisation reductions”, expected to save £2m, and have requested an explanation from the finance portfolio holder, Gwilym Butler.

“Management of local government has never been more challenging than it is at present,” said Councillor Butler in his medium term financial strategy report, presented to full council last week.

“Councillors and officers have worked intensively to prepare a budget which, while unpalatable, is deliverable. Our thanks to them all.”