City council jobs and services face the axe
COUNCIL jobs and services face being cut over the next two years as the authority battles with a predicted multi-million pound budget shortfall.
New Stoke-on-Trent City Council leader Ross Irving is already drawing up contingency plans after predicting the authority will receive less Government money than at present.
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Union leaders today warned the council, which employs 11,500 people, could need to plug a £10 million-a-year shortfall.
The gloomy predictions come just days after a leading economic think-tank warned up to 350,000 public sector jobs could be cut in the next five years.
But latest unemployment figures for Stoke-on-Trent published yesterday show the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance (JSA) fell last month for the first time in almost a year, from 9,428 to 8,981.
Mr Irving says the council's finances are an even bigger issue than the £1.5 billion regeneration plans for the city.
He said: "We have to take some action on savings in the short term.
"Some of those decisions need to be taken in the next six to nine months, as unless we get the figures right we have no vehicle to deliver future progress.
"We are going to face some very harsh decisions and will have to give some consideration to future staffing levels."
The council received a 4.3 per cent rise in its Government funding this financial year to take its grant to £123.3 million. It has been promised a £127.5 million grant next year – a 3.4 per cent increase.
Councillor Kieran Clarke, cabinet member for resources, said: "There are likely to be Government cutbacks after next year and we are going to have to think of leaner, smarter and more efficient ways of doing things.
"There will also be pressures this year that we didn't expect and we really have to look at providing more value for money and creating better, more efficient services.
"But we have also started the regeneration programme and have to make sure we continue to fund that."
Now union leaders are waiting to see what happens with the council's current £222 million-a-year budget.
Stoke-on-Trent Unison branch secretary Colin Walton said: "We have been hearing about budget cuts and jobs being lost.
"I have heard that the council is expecting a £10 million annual deficit after next year."
The drop in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Stoke-on-Trent between May and April was also mirrored across the region.
In the Staffordshire Moorlands JSA claimants fell from 1,706 to 1,600.
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8 Comments
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by mark, stoke
Thursday, June 18 2009, 8:42PM
“I agree with you david, communities have already been displaced by the mass demolition of hundreds of so-called 'slums' only to be replaced with middle class housing - where have these families gone? Spending on regeneration of this area cannot stop now due to the vast swathes of rubble that scar our city, however, careful consideration needs to be made over what will be built in their place. If public services are slashed who will ensure that we dont end up in a worse mess than we are in now? This city ALWAYS accepts second best, and it should not - we have a world famous Heritage that should be built on and improved, not built over and replaced!”
by Bert, Newcastle
Thursday, June 18 2009, 6:39PM
“Most Councils hold surplus cash because they get their money in before they have to spend it.
£90 odd million cash in bank for a Business or Council Stoke's size is normal so you clearly don't understand cash flow.”
by T COPE, TUNSTALL
Thursday, June 18 2009, 3:31PM
“"Cuts" thats all they have done in the last 8 years.
Frontline services cut while high paid non jobs, and council tax increase.
They deserve the title of "the most incompetant cut and close council".”
by David, Burslem
Thursday, June 18 2009, 12:57PM
“And what, exactly, will Independent councillors do to get us out of the financial hole that we are all in?
What we are seeing locally and nationally are the results of years of overspending. The unfortunate but unavoidable truth is that whoever represents us in the next few years will have no choice but to make cuts in public spending.”
by Bored, Longton
Thursday, June 18 2009, 12:34PM
“I think the first people to be sacked are the ones that put money into the Icelandic banks which we'll never see again!”