Conservative-run Leicestershire County Council – cutting costs by cutting more than 600 jobs

David Cameon’s policy to freeze council taxes has again come under scrutiny with news that a Conservative-run council proposed job cuts as a way of cutting costs.

Leicestershire-County-Council The publication of Leicestershire County Council’s draft budget has identified a £66 million funding gap to be met with £47 million in efficiency savings and save £19 million in the funds spent on services. However, it has emerged that the bulk of savings will be made by cutting more than 600 staff.

In publishing the draft budget, Conservative council leader, David Parson, sought to place the blame on the Government, saying:

“We have been very honest in setting out the size of the problems we face, due to Government debt, the recession and increased demand for adult social care and waste services. We have also lost £117 million of Government grant over the last five years, compared with the average.

“We’ve worked hard to find as many efficiency savings as possible and will continue to do so, but it is inevitable that people will see a reduction in some services and higher charges.”

Unions have made clear their opposition to the redundancies. Josie Nicholls, Unison’s Leicestershire Branch Secretary, told the Leicester Mercury:

“We’re appalled at proposals to cut the council’s budget by 20%. This will hit some of the most vulnerable people in our society.“

The draft proposals will be subject to consultation with the full council due to vote on the final budget on February 24th.

The news from Leicestershire comes hot on the heels of a number of other Conservative councils, such as Nottinghamshire, Essex and Lancashire, which have put ideological commitments to council tax freezes ahead of securing services for the vulnerable and saving jobs.

Yesterday, Left Foot Forward reported a blow to Conservative controlled Barnet’s plans for “no frills” council services as a way of tackling the deficit, and in November, Left Foot Forward revealed councils were planning to cut 4,500 jobs, on top of the 6,700 jobs lost in the six months to March last year – with Tory-run Birmingham City Council axing 800 jobs alone.

Speaking on Sunday AM, Gordon Brown made clear that as part of a wide package of measures to tackle the deficit, Labour would raise taxes for those on the top rates. Even Shadow Business Secretary, Ken Clarke has hinted that a Conservative Government might have to raise taxes.

These examples show that when the Conservative party runs local authorities, rather than using a mix of measures to minimise the consequences of tackling deficits – such as a mix of efficiency savings and tax rises – their belief that taxes must be frozen leads inevitably to mass job losses.

http://twitter.com/chalkface2009/status/7442655249 David NP Ludlam

Conservative-run Leicestershire County Council – cutting costs by cutting more than 600 jobs: http://is.gd/5O8lq (via @leftfootfwd) surprise
http://twitter.com/garryq/status/7442714737 Garry Dent

RT @leftfootfwd: Conservative-run Leicestershire County Council – cutting costs by cutting more than 600 jobs: http://is.gd/5O8lq ^GQ
Mark

And? Saving money by reducing jobs is normal stuff. After all, the last spending review – launched against a backdrop of an overheated boom and bumper tax receipts – saw Gordon Brown announce over 100,000 job cuts.
Chris

So it must be your opinion that everyone in every council is fully utilised despite changing priorities and requirements from central government.

Let’s not forget that about 3/4s of funding for council comes from central government.
Chris

In fact it is a bit rich that you laughably put this in sustainable economy. Surely spending within your means is the definition of sustainability, even if it does mean cutting jobs.

Surely a sustainable ecomony is one where services are designed around taxation receipts in poor economic times, and discretionary services schemes such as single regeneration budgets for an area, or higher capital funding for infrastructure projects should be funded out of the, should be funded out of increased taxation within good economic times.

In fact if services were structured around tax receipts for poor economic times, then it would be possible to put some sort of finance behind re establishing manufacturing industries within this country, and gradually becoming less reliant on financial industries.
http://twitter.com/grahamemorris/status/7449450328 Grahame Morris

RT @leftfootfwd: Conservative-run Leicestershire County Council – cutting costs by cutting more than 600 jobs: http://is.gd/5O8lq
Fony Blair

Welcome to the real world lefties.

The public sector isn’t some bottomless pit where you can spend until your heart’s content (despite the fact Gordon Brown has done his best to disprove this).

There are so many non jobs in counciuls these days that hopefully this is only the begining. We don;t need council employees employed to tell people what to do, what to eat, how to live. Get off our backs.
BenM

@Fony Blair

Actually in the proper real world, it is essential that governments maintain spending in the economy when demand falls away. Otherwise you get depression.

In the bogus world Fony and his rightwing chums live in, reality was instead ejected to make way for an economics which embraced some pretty loopy assumptions about the way people think.

The inevitable result was the Credit Crunch.

If Fony would do what seems to escape most conservative commentators and actually think this through, he’d wonder who in their right mind thinks dumping 600 staff from one public sector cost to another (welfare) is a productive use of resources? What is the impact on the local economy with that spending power removed? What is the human cost?
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/01/notts-county-council-figures-that-don%e2%80%99t-add-up/ Notts County Council – Figures that don’t add up? | Left Foot Forward

[...] days after Left Foot Forward highlighted the 600 jobs to be lost at Leicestershire County Council, further questions are being raised about [...]