Over £4m of Council savings made in last year
Council savings of £4,379,000 were reported to a meeting
of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on Wednesday 8
February.
The Committee considered a report updating information on the
Council’s revenue budget, and heard that prudent
pro-active planning has resulted in significant savings.
The £4.379m figure represents the total projected
underspend across all Council services for the 2011/12 financial
year.
The Council is currently managing the process of reducing costs
to meet a savings target of £22 million by 2012/13. A focus
on protecting front line services has resulted in innovative new
ways to deliver better services at reduced costs, such as offering
funding for local communities to improve their environment. Another
example is how the Council has been working with the NHS and other
partners to provide services for elderly people requiring social
care in their own homes, rather than in hospital or residential
care.
Efficiency measures have also included workforce management,
with a reduction in management posts of 20% and an overall
reduction in headcount of 5.5% since 2009. Over the past two years,
51 staff have been redeployed into vacant positions within the
Council.
Leader of the Council Ian Miller said: "The excellent work
carried out by staff across the Council in the past year has made
tomorrow’s budget-setting process easier. We have worked hard
to re-design our services so that the expectations of our residents
can be met at the same time as efficiencies are being made. While
there are still tough decisions to be made, these savings have
eased the burden."
The Council set a provisional three year budget in February
2011, and a Special Council meeting - 9 February 2012 - will make
any necessary amendments to this.
