£47m cuts will impact on services - council leader

Bill Revans, leader of Somerset Council, said the government needed to fix what he called a "broken" local government funding model

The leader of Somerset Council has said the authority will try to maintain a high quality service with fewer resources.

The council plans to make cuts of £47m in the year ahead to avoid effectively going bankrupt, and still has a £66m hole in its budget to fill.

Councillor Bill Revans said inevitably there would be an impact on services but blamed what he called a "broken system" of funding local government.

The government said it had given local councils an extra £700m to bring additional funding to about £2bn and promised a funding review of local government.

Revans spoke to BBC Radio Somerset presenter Charlie Taylor and answered questions from listeners

How will £66m budget gap be filled?

Speaking in a special hour-long programme on BBC Radio Somerset, Revans said the local authority would use a range of measures to fill a £66m budget gap in the next financial year including:

• Continuing to devolve services to city, town and parish councils

• Selling assets to provide services known as a capitalisation directive

• Reducing back office costs

But he said long-term, the funding model for local government is broken and the council would only get back on its feet when the government addressed this.

Devolution deals are complete with Bridgwater, Taunton and Yeovil, with agreements expected soon with Frome, Wellington and Minehead.

What impact will £47m cuts have?

This week, the council approved staff cuts of £34m and altogether there are plans to make savings of £47m next year.

Revans said several potential impacts had been identified in a report discussed by the council this week, with measures identified to mitigate them.

Services for people with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) will be reorganised, with the council leader saying the current system takes too long for children to get the support they need.

Revans continued that he hopes to move to a "better system" that is more inclusive of children in mainstream education.

There is also potential for delays in care assessments, planning enforcement and responding to questions from the public when bin collections are missed.

Revans said people must remember that the council provides hundreds of services and it will monitor and review any changes made.

Revans said the rising cost of adult and children's social care had put the council on the brink of bankruptcy

Why has there been a delay in setting a budget?

The leader of the Conservative opposition group on Somerset Council, Mandy Chilcott, said the budget had never been so late.

She is concerned there will not be enough time to properly scrutinise restructuring and cuts.

Revans said the delay had occurred because they are waiting for a response from the Ministry of of Housing and Local Government for final confirmation of some of the details in their budget.

He said the department is dealing with about 40 councils who had applied for Exceptional Financial Support, so its workload is high.

Revans said he expected a response by the end of February and assured residents that the same level of scrutiny would still take place.

The council is due to set the budget on 5 March.

Why could council tax rise by 7.5%?

Revans defended a potential council tax rise of 7.5% arguing that it is still below the national average.

Somerset Council is one of six local authorities in England recently given special permission from the government to raise tax above a 5% cap.

Revans said it was needed because the authority had a low council tax base and a high demand for social care.

He said: "The price of social care is going up at such a rate that although we've made significant savings from local government reorganisation, it just simply isn't enough to keep us in a stable and steady state".

The government announced the extra £700m for English council budgets in December, as a "first step" to rebuild their finances.

The top-up brings additional funding for next year to about £2bn, on top of £1.3bn announced at October's Budget.