Impact of Emergency Budget

As it anticipated, Wiltshire Council is in a good position to manage the impact of the cuts announced in the Chancellor's emergency budget today.

This is as a result of the move to a unitary authority – merging five councils into one - and good forward planning. The council recognised the national economic situation and the potential cuts required to manage the national debt.

The government’s intention is to make average cuts of around 25 percent over four years from government departments, with the exception of the NHS and International Aid. This will impact on local authorities across the country. The details of these cuts are currently unclear - but there is recognition on the pressures facing education. The final figures will form part of the spending review in October. Wiltshire Council had already forecast for cuts of around this figure and for a minimal increase in council tax for the next four years.

The council has saved over £14million as a result of moving to one council, which places Wiltshire Council in a stronger position than many other local authorities. It is estimating that over the next five years over £30million could be saved through further efficiencies and more than £85million will be saved as a result of reducing the council’s number of office buildings from 96 to four.

Despite the council pre-empting and planning for the cuts, it will have to manage the reduction in funding from central government and minimise the impact on local services this year and in future years. The council has to reduce its budget this year by more than £4.1million. The government has put forward cuts in a number of areas including area based grants and capital programmes including transport infrastructure.

Wiltshire Council is well placed to build on the strong foundations it has established in its first year. It is determined to focus on helping local communities and people to help themselves and to continue to protect and maintain its front line services.  Working with its public sector partners, the council aims to deliver further efficiency savings through procurement and purchasing and applying new and innovative ways of working.

Council Leader Jane Scott said: “We anticipated the cuts announced today and have planned to minimise the impact through careful financial planning and maximising on the efficiencies we can make as a new unitary council.

"It is vital we retain the trust and relationships that we have with our local communities and I welcome the government’s support in helping us to achieve a zero increase in council tax. I hope the government will allow us the flexibility to manage our budget and not be constrained by ring fences or restrictions as our priority is to maintain and protect our front line services”.

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Notes for editors:

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Efficiency savings

£8.3m actual in 2009/10

£5.8m is forecast to be saved in 2010/11


Reductions in this year’s budget

£2.7m revenue funding – mainly from children’s services and education

£1.47m capital – from integrated transport schemes, market town schemes and road safety.

Workplace transformation programme

The workspace transformation programme will deliver fully modernised offices within three and half years, reducing the number of offices buildings from 96 to four main hub offices.

It will also provide the infrastructure to improve services, such as upgraded ICT, ‘work anywhere’ telephone systems and the HR policies and procedures required to support managers and staff to work more flexibly.

The net additional capital cost of the programme is around £23 million which is inclusive of ICT costs. The programme will deliver total revenue savings over the next 25 years of £85.1 million and will remove a maintenance backlog for the existing office estate of £22 million.