Savage council cuts on the way

Reserves would be depleted in just a few years, millions of pounds worth of savings turned out to be unachievable, and people will lose jobs, said the leader of the administration Councillor Bobby McGill.

The Labour leader recently told the Advertiser he wants to paint an honest picture for residents in Clacks as the budget deadline creeps ever closer.

He said: “We are going to struggle to get a balanced budget this year. And if we get a balanced budget it’s because we took savage cuts to services and that is where we are.

“We have to really look at the numbers we’ve got, we have to look at cutting these numbers back.

“To say anything else is being dishonest with people and I will not be dishonest with people out there, I want them to understand where we are.”

Making sure the workforce is reduced remains a key issue, according to Cllr McGill, who said 67 per cent of expenditure goes on staff’s salaries.

Millions had previously been set aside by the SNP for voluntary redundancies and severances, but not enough staff took them.

The council leader explained: “I get asked questions regularly about compulsory redundancies. It’s the last thing I want to do, but I do recognise, after speaking to other leaders all over Scotland, that it’s facing us.

“I would rather see us getting people going out on a voluntary basis with a bit of money in their pocket. 

“That’s why we put £5million aside to encourage people to take the voluntary redundancy/severance.

“We are getting numbers, but nowhere near enough numbers, only about a third.”

The council is the biggest employer in the county and letting people go could create more unemployment, but Cllr McGill hopes the recently announced Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Deal will create more opportunities for work locally.

The leader of the SNP opposition, Cllr Les Sharp, has called for more transparency and asked Labour to share plans.

He told the Advertiser: “How can I comment on Labour’s budget proposals when there is nothing on the table to comment upon?

“When the SNP ran the council we shared our plans, the supporting business cases and the full detail of our proposals at every stage of the budget process.

“Labour has reverted to type and, if they have any sensible proposals, they are being kept from the public and councillors alike. They were uncomfortable with scrutiny in the past and they seem to prefer secrecy to transparency.”

It is understood that at the time of writing, proposals were still being discussed by the administration and it is not yet clear how much the council will receive from the Scottish Government exactly.

An independent report, published at the very end of October, revealed that budget pressures weigh the heaviest on the shoulders of Clackmannanshire Council.

The local authority needs to cut its spending by 6.6 per cent to make the necessary savings, the highest for Scotland after Aberdeen City’s 5.7 per cent, according to the ‘Financial Scrutiny Unit Briefing – The social impact of the 2016-17 local government budget’ document, published by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Regarding the report, the council leader said: “We knew it, and we knew it was bad, but when you’ve got an independent body like SPICe showing you just how serious our financial position is, you are hoping that people will listen.”

Produced by Deloitte, the council’s latest audit also revealed if the local authority was to keep using reserves to plug the gaps, funds would diminish by 2019-20.

The audit read: “It is therefore critical that savings plans are agreed and implemented.”

According to the paper, usable reserves have increased by £0.52m to £18.477m at March 31 this year. The increase is mainly a result of underspend in certain areas.

Council financial statements from the past six years show there are still more usable reserves than in 2010, when it stood at £13.673m, but less than in 2013, when it was around £25m.

However, the council is now facing more pressures with significant budget shortfalls projected for the next few years. The lowest anticipated gap for the next budget is £7.5m with an expected worst case scenario of £17.6m.

Cllr McGill said: “We’ve used £14m of reserves – spent in the last five years, putting off the hard decisions, not addressing the issues that required to be dealt with.

“There’s been no redesign of service and the necessary restructure has not happened. [There’s been] no workforce planning and voluntary redundancies have only been available for the last year.”

Cllr Sharp said: “They have been in charge this financial year and have failed, across the board, to deliver the savings that officers put forward for this year. Labour’s failure only adds to the problems facing the council and threatens more jobs.

“By using the reserves prudently, the SNP reduced debt, increased reserves and maintained services and jobs that are vital in this community and balanced the budget year after year.

"Of course, if we had not been saddled with an ongoing PPI debt costing us close on £8m each year, by the previous Labour administration, the budget might not be so difficult to prepare.”

The Scottish Budget and Local Government Settlement will be issued next Thursday and it is anticipated members will be briefed on the outcomes this month, before setting the budget in February.