City council announces £24m of fresh cuts

Nottingham City Council has announced a fresh series of cuts and savings as it tries to balance its books.

The Labour-run authority, which effectively declared itself bankrupt last year, has published a list of 21 proposals which it says will save £24m over the next four financial years - with £17.9m of the savings due to be delivered next year.

Among the plans are reviews of several adult social care services, such as direct payments, "high-cost" care packages, and eligibility for transport.

Council leader Neghat Khan said the budget "is about getting our house in order and moving the council to a financially sustainable position".

Council documents state the review of direct payments - cash payments made by the local authority to people to pay for their care - is to ensure "consistency in service provision" and is expected to save £805,000.

The review of "high-cost" care packages is expected to save £270,000 and reviewing eligibility for adult social care transport is set to save £250,000.

The largest savings, however, are in some of the council's back-office functions.

A project described as "strengthening workforce management" - which documents say will involve "managing vacancies more prudently" - is expected to save more than £6.5m.

A further £5.3m is set to be saved by improving efficiency and "streamlining layers of management and team sizes".

Other savings include a revised management model for museums and galleries, which the council says will involve increasing revenue, reducing operating costs and "establishing a charitable development trust".

It is expected this will save the council £1.15m over four years.

The authority is also planning to reduce subsidies for sports and leisure facilities, saving £507,000, mostly by reducing vacant staff posts.

A revised events programme, meanwhile, is set to save £86,000 and aims to make events such as the Riverside Festival "cost neutral".

Khan said the authority continued to face "huge pressures in caring for the elderly and disabled, supporting families and looking after children in our care and homelessness".

"Together, these pressures are squeezing out other services," she said.

The council has not yet announced plans for council tax, with further details expected in the new year.

The savings are due to be discussed at a meeting of the council's Executive Board on 17 December before some of the plans are put out to public consultation.

By Hugh Casswell, Political reporter, BBC Nottingham

At a glance, these cuts may not look quite as severe as previous years.

But just bear in mind - it's all relative.

Compare them to last year's budget, for example, which saw an incredibly wide range of tangible, front-line services like libraries and community centres facing the axe.

That means that now, put bluntly, there's very little left to cut, at least in terms of non-statutory services.

Plans to save money in social care will doubtless prompt concern, and the fact the council is having to look at its most important services is a sign of how all the low-hanging fruit has already been picked.

But the fact so much can apparently be saved in back-office functions does rather beg the question - why wasn't this done before?

Behind closed doors, some senior figures at the council are themselves asking that very question.

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