Nottingham City Council set for job losses in £15.6m cuts plan

A council is set to make £15.6m in cuts which includes the loss of 272 full-time jobs - 80 of which are vacancies.

Nottingham City Council says the job losses, which amount to about 5% of its workforce, are part of a savings plan that will see other services cut.

Council tax is also to rise by nearly 5%.

In addition, the authority has set out a recovery plan following a review into the collapse of Robin Hood Energy.

The three-year plan was recommended by the government after an inquiry into the council's finances in the wake of the energy firm's demise.

Robin Hood Energy was set up in 2015, claiming it was the first local authority-run energy company in the UK, but it lost about £38m and collapsed, with its customer base sold to British Gas in September.

The council said the coronavirus pandemic and long-term government cuts had also hit finances.

The final budget proposals will be voted on in March.

Other savings proposed by the council include reducing the number of community protection officers by 20 to save £709,000, reviewing adult social care to cut £3.2m, and saving £700,000 by "rationalising the Linkbus network".

It has also suggested increasing council tax by 1.99% from April, with an additional 3% to fund adult social care.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said further cuts of £7.2m were also due to be revealed in the coming weeks.

The council said it has had to save £271m between 2010-11 and 2019-20 due to government funding reductions, and during the pandemic has had to deal with £28.4m Covid response costs yet to be reimbursed.

Every council has spent the last decade working with less money from government grants. This year they've had to deal with Covid costs too and Nottingham is not alone in saying they haven't had the full cost reimbursed yet by the government.

This year local authorities have been told they can put 2% on council tax bills plus another 3% if they provide adult social care.

The collapse of Robin Hood Energy left Nottingham with a "very significant" gap in its budget and depleted reserves, so now the council will be putting up bills and cutting costs, which means axing jobs and services.

The cost of providing social care takes a big chunk of any budget. In Nottingham's case, it's 40%, so they are looking at ways to "review and redesign" how they provide social care too.

Councillor Sam Webster, the portfolio holder for finance, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We have an improved position [since the external review] because of additional funding, but the challenge is still great."

Council leader David Mellen said: "Despite these challenges, we remain ambitious for Nottingham and for all who live and work here.

"Our core mission is to deliver quality local services, ensure the city is safe and clean, and support jobs and growth."

A consultation on the budget cuts was expected to be approved at a meeting of the city council's executive board on Tuesday.

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