by Theo Cronin
THE SHAPE, scale and scope of West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is set to dramatically alter as proposals are announced to save £75million over the next three years from its budget.
It
is stated around £60million can be removed from the local authority’s ‘back
office’, a figure equating to a 30 per cent reduction in council bureaucracy.
Over
the past three months no department or council service has escaped intense
scrutiny from cabinet members, their officers and accountants.
Each
of the nine departments has announced a series of proposals, the extent of which
significantly changes both the role and size of the organisation, transforming
it into more of an enabling body, once its statutory duties have been met.
“It
has been a very targeted approach and we are reshaping the County Council,”
said Louise Goldsmith, leader of WSCC. “The role will change to very much the
facilitator. We are redesigning how we work, and what that means is where we
have 10 to 12 people doing things, we will reconfigure that to seven or
eight.”
However,
WSCC will not be drawn on redundancies, but a series of other ‘R’ words
litter the proposals, many of which translate in terms of job losses.
Children’s Homes, Community Libraries, and Office Services are to be
‘reviewed’, senior management has been ‘re-structured’, the Fire and
Rescue Service and library Service ‘re-designed’, many teams
‘re-configured’, services ‘rationalised’, and everywhere budgets
‘reduced’.
Payroll,
finance, procurement and other ‘back office’ functions look likely to be
outsourced to the private sector, or shared with neighbouring local authorities.
WSCC
employs around 6000 staff, of which ‘more than a thousand will be affected’
according to Chris Earwaker, branch secretary of Unison West Sussex.
The
Liberal Democrat opposition has also said the number will be in the
‘several hundreds’.
Louise
Goldsmith hopes a ‘block on employing new people’ in combination with
‘redeployment following natural wastage’ and ‘retraining’ will mitigate
many of the potential redundancies.
In
line with central Government dictat, WSCC is ‘fully committed to not
increasing council tax 2011/12’.
Mrs
Goldsmith has also declared that despite the cuts, they are ‘protecting the
very vulnerable and the very weak’, and that will continue to be their
‘priority’.
However,
£31M of the £75M savings is to be found from the Adults’ Services budget. It
includes £704,000 from the closure of council run day centres for those with
physical or sensory impairments, including Harwood House, Horsham; The Brooks,
Pulborough; and The Grange, Midhurst.
Its
calculated £7M could by saved by joint commissioning of services with NHS West
Sussex. In 2012 WSCC takes over responsibility for Public Health. Savings are
forecast by merging the two organisations’ operations.
More
than £5M is saved from ‘ensuring maximum value is obtained from WSCC’s
contracts with SHAW Healthcare and making best use of those care homes’. Mrs
Goldsmith denied paying care homes less would have a detrimental effect on the
quality of care provided. “It will be fine,” she said, adding much of this
work started a few years ago, and that they have ‘realigned the contract to
get more money out as savings’.
It
is estimated £3.5M could be saved by raising the eligibility for adults’
social care from 'moderate' to ‘substantial’ and ‘critical’ needs
only. This brings WSCC into line with 75 per cent of other local authorities in
the region, and demonstrates a theme often repeated throughout the proposals –
‘no gold plating’ or ‘nice to haves’.
In
many cases, such as Trading Standards, school transport, bus subsidies, support
for talented and gifted students, discretionary social care, learning service,
training, the Arts, and the Youth Service, WSCC often proposes to only meet
statutory requirements, necessarily impacting of the quality of life and
services many have come expect in West Sussex from their council.
Raising
the eligibility for social care will have significant financial and social
implications for many, and so is it the right move to make? “It is the one we
have to make,” said Mrs Goldsmith. “The fact is this is not a whim. This is
from the Government who have to pay off the enormous debt from the previous
administration. This is not an option, we have to deliver this.”
After
poor grant settlements in previous years, WSCC has stated ‘there is no more
fat to trim’, and now the leader is taking the analogy to its logical
conclusion. She said: “Finding £75 M having already taken out £40M means we
are now cutting into the bone – we don’t have an option – it is not a
pleasure for us but we have to act responsibly to deliver these savings.”
However,
cutting some services like the Youth Service is being presented as an
‘exciting’ opportunity to put into practice many of the theories of David
Cameron’s ‘Big Society‘ model.
£2M
could be saved by removing the universal provision of youth services in
The
council will assist with obtaining CRB checks, or perhaps a building could be
transferred to a church group or community organisation keen to provide a
village youth club? The budget proposals include reducing council office
buildings from 49 to just six, saving £1.1M.
In
respect of Youth Services, Mrs Goldsmith said: “It is a completely different
role and this is what I mean by talking about the shape of the County Council
changing. We are at a crossroads. We have done Youth Services, but now it is
more about communities organising themselves to deliver what they want in their
communities – bottom up.”
Similar
moves include a predicted £1M saving from a review of Community Libraries which
could potentially be staffed by volunteers, or perhaps community centres could
lend books?
The
changing role of the county council will involve the development of more
community action plans, to help communities develop community bus services for
example, after £2M is saved from bus subsidies, affecting non school journeys,
rural, Sunday and evening services.
Highways
and Transport is the third hardest hit department. Sussex Safer Roads
Partnership will be £973,000 worse off. £1.43M could be taken from the capital
programme, detracting from safer routes to school, cycle schemes and traffic
calming.
And
any renewed contract for Highway Services and Infrastructure will include
reduced frequency of graffiti removal, grass cutting and footway clearance,
saving a further £2.5M.
The
3 in 1 youth concessionary fare scheme will incur a £50 administrative fee - an
example of how the authority aims to raise revenue where possible. Its hoped £121,000
worth of new registration income can be earned for example by restructuring
venue fees and running baby naming, citizenship and wedding vow renewal
ceremonies.
Such
revenue increases pale in comparison though to the many larger sums of millions,
associated with the outsourcing of whole departments, and savings to be made by
partnership working with other local authorities. Its forecast £2.5M could be
saved if West Sussex Fire and Rescue shared management and back office functions
with neighbouring authorities.
Such
large savings inevitably mean redundancies, leaving many hundreds of council
employees anxious and uncertain this Christmas.
To
date 71 local authorities nationwide have announced more than 70,000 job losses
since the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review in October.
Whilst
some job losses are confirmed for
However,
the majority of the cuts hit hard in 2011, due to the way the Government has
‘front loaded’ its management of the nation’s debt.
Chris
Earwaker from Unison West Sussex said: “Our members are very worried. I think
the proposals taken together including potential outsourcing mean well over a
thousand employees will be impacted, and the impact comes mostly in the first
year, apparently due to government funding.”
The
leader of WSCC said the council has joined other local authorities in making a
‘huge representation’ to the Government about ‘this front loading’ and
she recognises it is ‘very aggressive and very high impact’.
But
is it playing politics with people’s lives to enforce the most dramatic cuts
at the beginning of the Government’s new term? Mrs Goldsmith said: “I think
the whole ethos of this is George Osbourne saying lets get this debt under
control and therefore we are going to front load this to reduce the debt we
have. So our targets are very high in the first year and we understand that.
“We
understand exactly what a concern it is for staff. There is redeployment and
re-skilling as an option, but is a very very difficult time for everyone.”
The
budget proposals are being debated at a full council meeting at County Hall,
Friday December 17. Budget recommendations will be made by the cabinet on
January 25.
Final
decision will be taken at the budget meeting of the full council on February 11.
WSCC
is inviting residents to participate in an online consultation - visit
www.westsussex.gov.uk and search 'have your say' then click on 'live
consultations'.
Alternatively,
please email your thoughts, opinions and letters for publication to ct.letters@sussexnewspapers.co.uk
Please
include your name and address. Content may be précised prior publication.