'We could be skint in 12 months' - councillor

The council has said staff have been asked to consider voluntary redundancies to help plug the gap

A council will be "skint" after 12 months following the revelation of a £36m gap in its finances, its leader of the opposition has said.

Leader of Oldham Council's Liberal Democrat group, councillor Howard Sykes, made the comments after the Labour-run council in Greater Manchester declared it was expecting to overspend by £25m this year, with an £11m gap carried from last year.

Cllr Arooj Shah, leader of Oldham Council, blamed the rising costs of social services and said the previous government had "taken money" from the local authority over the last 14 years.

On Friday the council said it had asked staff to consider voluntary redundancies to help plug the gap.

Mr Sykes said: "These are really big numbers, and it is a series of things which have contributed to it.

"Some of the savings supposed to be made in the last financial year haven't been made, and some of the savings in the budget that I called undeliverable have not been delivered."

'Burning through money'

Speaking on the council's decision to offer of voluntary redundancies, Mr Sykes said they could come as a threat to some services.

"Calling for voluntary redundancies is a very crude tool, because they're random and not necessarily where you'd want them.

"Would they be managed, or would we just take anybody because we're that desperate to claw this money back?

"If that happens, what happens to services that, some of which in my opinion creaking and groaning," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

Mr Sykes said the council could "only possibly cope with this for another 12 months".

"What we've seen is a reduction in the council's reserves of 62 per cent in over four years; we're burning money in the bank at a rate of knots.

"So, we could only possibly cope with this for another 12 months.

"We then get into the territory of a number of other local authorities when we are skint.

"We're not at that point yet, and if the council takes appropriate action we won't be, but we're skating pretty close to it."

'Demand is increasing'

Councillor Arooj Shah said funding from the new government would help but significant cut backs and redundancies would still be necessary.

"If you look at adult social services costs, our children's services costs, and temporary accommodation costs, they are through the roof because over the last 14 years the government has taken money from [the council].

"However, the demand has been increasing, and the cost is still there," she said.

Councillor Arooj Shah said the council was not complacent about its financial situation

Ms Shah added that ministers she had spoken to in government "really value" public services.

"Within four weeks, we've had three calls a week with different ministers across the government who really care about local government, really value public services and are willing to provide the support.

"It's just that we don't know what that will look like. We'll get a settlement, later on in the year, but we are not complacent.

"We have to continue with the work. We can't sit here waiting for something not knowing what that may look like."