Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole's budget: What happens now?
- Published
The Family Hub in Somerford provides early help services and support for families
To balance its books for the next financial year, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council has found £44m of savings.
It already said it would withdraw funding for the Bournemouth Air Festival after this year's event, with money for its swimming and paddling pools also facing cuts.
Setting the budget last month, the authority said the financial situation was "as bad as it could be".
It has stopped all non-essential spending and has announced plans to cut Community Safety Accredited Officers and reduce mowing and grass cutting.
The council is seeking sponsors for Bournemouth Air Festival, after announcing it will no longer subsidise the event
It also hopes to save more than £1m with the reorganisation of children's centres by cutting staff and building costs. The centres offer a range of sessions for babies and mother and toddler groups.
The structure change would see the area's nine children's centres and 14 youth bases reduced to six family hubs and two youth bases. The public consultation, external ends on Friday.
The authority said: "By changing the structure of service, it can deliver what children, young people and their families need in a more timely and cost-effective way."
But, in truth, the £1m cut to children's centres is really just the tip of the iceberg.
Further cuts
On Tuesday, the Department for Education (DfE) rejected BCP's plan to manage its SEND debt over a 15-year period.
It means unless a new deal can be agreed to repay its £63.4m overspend, further cuts will be inevitable as the very real threat of possible bankruptcy looms larger than ever.
The latest SEND debt development is of huge financial significance.
The government wanted BCP to join its Safety Valve scheme, a rescue plan which would see the council's historic SEND overspend spread over a five-year repayment plan.
But in February councillors rejected that deal outright. The authority's leader Vikki Slade said the scheme would have bankrupted the council by the end of the year.
Instead BCP asked the DfE to consider a 15-year deal - but that request was turned down.
So, it's back to the drawing board to try and find a solution - and a way of avoiding a £63.4m financial cliff-edge. No council in the country could afford to pay back that amount in one go without, in effect, going bankrupt.
It is also worth noting that neighbouring Dorset Council has a SEND overspend of just over £30m.
It joined the government's Safety Valve scheme in 2022. Just two years later, it is trying to get the terms and conditions changed because it cannot afford the payments.
I have been told this week that those negotiations with the DfE are continuing - but that no new deal has yet emerged.
BCP chief executive Graham Farrant said: "We always knew the council's recent safety valve proposal challenged the DfE's criteria.
"We have acted with integrity in making clear that we will not sign up to a deal that would see our services fall below the statutory requirements as set by government."
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