Redcar and Cleveland council jobs and services under threat

Redcar and Cleveland councillors heard that "every decision made will be difficult"

A council may have to make cuts to jobs and services to fill an expected £7.7m budget shortfall.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said the cash crisis was due to the cost of children's services and supporting vulnerable people in care.

It is hoped mitigations could reduce the overspend to £5.6m.

But cabinet member for resources Christopher Massey said "there's no fat left", adding "every decision made will be difficult".

A report produced for council chief executive John Sampson said the thrust of the spending was coming from £9.6m on supporting vulnerable children.

The average cost of a child's "residential" placement was £366,000 as of June, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

Meanwhile, home-to-school transport costs, the reliance on agency staff to fill vacancies in social care and rising interest rates on loans were also blamed.

'Skint' warning

Mr Massey told a scrutiny committee meeting: "We are talking now about services and jobs and that is an awful position to be in, but that is the reality I would like members to be prepared for."

He said cost-saving suggestions that had previously been ruled out should be reconsidered, adding: "We need to assess all options."

Tim Gray, deputy chairman of the resources scrutiny committee, added he feared the council could find itself "skint", suggesting it needed to be run more like a business.

Council leader Alec Brown previously urged the government to unlock additional funding, adding the authority had sustained "huge cuts" to cash flow "over more than a decade".

It comes as Birmingham City Council said it was essentially bankrupt and needed to cease new spending to continue delivering essential services.

That prompted other council leaders to say they were dealing with "underfunding", while warning more bankruptcy notices could follow.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said councils were ultimately responsible for the management of their own finances and had seen an increase in "core spending power".