Derbyshire council insists on tough saving proposals to address ‘£39.5m’ budget deficit

The Conservative-led council’s cabinet voted in favour of supporting the raft of recommended saving proposals in a new budget report after a cabinet meeting on Thursday, January 11, to address a forecast £39.5m budget shortfall for the 2024-25 financial year.

This follows on-going work on a forecast budget overspend of £33m for the 2023-24 financial year which has already been partly addressed with a number of dramatic cost-saving measures.

Deputy Leader Cllr Simon Spencer, who is also the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Budget, told the cabinet meeting: “We cannot afford to be in a position where we are publishing a budget that is inappropriate or financially unsustainable.”

He added that if the council cannot come forward with saving proposals that will fulfil the requirement of setting and balancing its budget for the 2024-25 financial year the authority will find itself in difficulty.

Cllr Spencer explained that the current in-year 2023-24 savings that are underway will eventually come together but this latest 32-page budget report outlines recommended saving proposals that the council cabinet feels are necessary for the 2024-25 financial year.

The report sets out how the local authority proposes to make savings to set a balanced budget for 2024-25 but Cllr Spencer said if any changes are discussed and introduced at a later stage alternative measures must be in place to ensure the budget is balanced.

Current outlined budget savings proposals in the report involve reviewing and redesigning some services with changes likely to affect the elderly, disabled and children.

Other saving proposals in the report include changes to waste disposal, libraries and heritage, and converting the council’s multi-million pound County Hall building, at Matlock, into a hotel, residential space, and a new office site.

Budget savings proposals for 2024-25 under consideration include: Redesigning five short stay residential homes and four day centres for people with learning disabilities; Redesigning 16 council elderly residential care homes and ten day care centres; Redesigning council care arrangements within extra care settings for older people; Reviewing the delivery of children’s centres and reviewing the children’s services Early Help service; Changing policy for post-16 home to school transport; And reviewing residential short-break and support services for disabled children.

Other savings proposals include: Restricting or charging for waste disposal of tyres and asbestos and generating income by allowing small businesses to use centres for a fee; Modernising the way the council delivers its library and heritage services; Reviewing the usage and options for Derbyshire County Council’s County Hall offices; And ceasing the production of the Derbyshire Now magazine and reducing the council’s countryside grounds maintenance budget.

Cllr Spencer said: “I want to thank all the officers who have been involved in the production of this document and I know many have worked through the festive season.”

He added that he was grateful for the effort and work that has gone into producing the document in the last few months and that he was confident the package of proposals will deliver the authority’s ambitions in a prudent way and allow the council to move forward.

Derbyshire County Council has argued many councils across the country are experiencing similar external, financial issues due to previous high inflation rates, Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis, and it has stopped all non-essential spending and implemented a hiring freeze, except for essential jobs, and it has been facing tough decisions and a restriction in how much council tax can be raised.

The council has already put in place a number of strict cost-control measures following its announcement of an original forecast in-year budget overspend of £46.4m for the 2023/24 financial year which has now been reduced to £33m.

These have included: Reducing the use of agency staff; Reducing overtime; Stopping non-essential conferences, travel or training; Reducing print, IT equipment and stationery spending; Only carrying out health and safety repairs on properties; And ceasing or delaying procurement for supplies and services and postponing projects still in the planning stage, where expenditure is non-essential.

Changes since September have also included increasing school meal prices by about 41per cent, potentially reducing the number of people who can claim for adult care, putting plans for a new Staveley bypass on hold as well as reviewing how it rolls out its library service.

The council’s scrutiny committee will soon consider the 2024-25 budget report saving proposals at a meeting on January 22 and provide feedback before the report is considered again by cabinet at a meeting on February 1 before going to a Full Council meeting on February 14.