Saturday
20
April
£2 million council savings are unlikely
29/10/2019 @ 01:20
Nearly £2million of proposed savings by Powys County Council may be undeliverable it has been revealed.
The Council’s finance panel will be told on Thursday that the anticipated savings may have to be rolled over into the 2020/21 budget.
At the meeting the panel will receive a report on efficiency savings that are being done in this financial year. The report, which is dated from August, explains that the 2019/20 budget needs efficiency savings of £12,989 million.
This figure has gone up to £21,692 million after social services (adults and childrens’s services) had identified £8,703 million of savings that need to be “mitigated”. This is due to estimated rising cost and demand facing social services in 2019/20.
Head of Finance, Jane Thomas (pictured), said: “The budget plan for the financial year 2019/20 is dependent on the achievement of savings to maintain a balanced budget.
“Over the last few years delivery of savings remains consistently below 80 per-cent with corrective actions taken in the year to mitigate this impact.
“A collective response by the senior leadership team must ensure that the gap in the budget can be bridged. The proposal must be supported by clear delivery plans.”
Ms Thomas added: “It is important that the projected out-turn position reported monthly, includes the savings forecast and narrative from service heads to evidence their commitment to delivering the plan and where necessary remedial and mitigating action is taken.”
The report explains that savings of £11.628 million (54 per-cent) have been delivered to date.
Head of service are being asked to provide “assurances” that a further £6.393 million can be delivered by year end.
The report says: “There is confidence that these will be achieved as the year progresses.
“The remaining £3.672 million are currently considered to be unachievable.”
The report goes on to say that £1.809 million of the unachievable savings are expected to be found in full in the next financial year, 2020/21.
“But there remains a further £2.156 million of savings that are considered unachievable on a permanent basis,” says the report.
Of this £1.862 million come from proposed savings from services and the late sharing out of savings.
The report continues: “This creates a gap in our budget plan which needs to be resolved.
“The senior leadership team are collectively developing a recovery plan to identify alternative means of bridging this gap.”
These proposals will eventually be discussed at a cabinet meeting.
The Council’s finance panel will be told on Thursday that the anticipated savings may have to be rolled over into the 2020/21 budget.
At the meeting the panel will receive a report on efficiency savings that are being done in this financial year. The report, which is dated from August, explains that the 2019/20 budget needs efficiency savings of £12,989 million.This figure has gone up to £21,692 million after social services (adults and childrens’s services) had identified £8,703 million of savings that need to be “mitigated”. This is due to estimated rising cost and demand facing social services in 2019/20.
Head of Finance, Jane Thomas (pictured), said: “The budget plan for the financial year 2019/20 is dependent on the achievement of savings to maintain a balanced budget.
“Over the last few years delivery of savings remains consistently below 80 per-cent with corrective actions taken in the year to mitigate this impact.
“A collective response by the senior leadership team must ensure that the gap in the budget can be bridged. The proposal must be supported by clear delivery plans.”
Ms Thomas added: “It is important that the projected out-turn position reported monthly, includes the savings forecast and narrative from service heads to evidence their commitment to delivering the plan and where necessary remedial and mitigating action is taken.”
The report explains that savings of £11.628 million (54 per-cent) have been delivered to date.
Head of service are being asked to provide “assurances” that a further £6.393 million can be delivered by year end.
The report says: “There is confidence that these will be achieved as the year progresses.
“The remaining £3.672 million are currently considered to be unachievable.”
The report goes on to say that £1.809 million of the unachievable savings are expected to be found in full in the next financial year, 2020/21.
“But there remains a further £2.156 million of savings that are considered unachievable on a permanent basis,” says the report.
Of this £1.862 million come from proposed savings from services and the late sharing out of savings.
The report continues: “This creates a gap in our budget plan which needs to be resolved.
“The senior leadership team are collectively developing a recovery plan to identify alternative means of bridging this gap.”
These proposals will eventually be discussed at a cabinet meeting.
By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service
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