Edinburgh City Council could cut 300 jobs to save £41m

Closing the posts at Edinburgh City Council is part of a range of measures designed to save £41m

Up to 300 jobs could go at City of Edinburgh Council this year in a bid to save £41m.

Closing the posts is part of a range of measures designed to save the money which is £13m more than expected.

Council leaders said the recent Scottish government's draft budget had left the city needing to find extra savings.

The Scottish government said the overall settlement for local authorities had risen this year.

At a meeting of the council's finance and resources committee on 1 February, councillors will be asked to approve the draft 2019/20 proposals.

They will then go to the council's budget meeting on 21 February for a final decision.

'Tough decisions'

Residents and stakeholders are being invited to give their feedback before 11 February.

As part of a 10-week public engagement late last year residents were asked by the council for views on their priorities.

The city council needs to save about £150m by 2022/23 and £41m in the 2019/20 budget.

Its strategy commits to:

• More than £600m being spent on new council homes or refurbishing and upgrading existing homes

• Nearly £200m for school construction and refurbishment

• At least £125m for the city's roads, pavements and cycle paths

• A new plan for the transformation of the city centre

Council leader Adam McVey said: "As we grapple with the additional demands on our services, we face significant financial challenges and are faced with some tough decisions as a result. But that doesn't mean we've lost our ambition for our capital city - or indeed our commitment to protect those services that we know our most vulnerable residents rely upon.

"The majority of these draft proposals relate to how we can manage the council better and be more efficient, including reducing the cost of senior management and finding ways of maximising our income.

"Crucially, this approach allows us to prioritise and sustain investment in important services including homelessness, early years and education."

'Fairer settlement'

He added: "I would encourage all residents to let us know what they think of the proposals either online or by speaking with their local councillor ahead of our budget meeting on 21 February."

Deputy leader Cammy Day said: "The reality is that our draft financial settlement from the Scottish government is worse than we expected and we need to make an unprecedented level of cuts to our services.

"The only way to do this is by prioritising our front-line services, generating greater income and setting a fair, balanced budget which promotes inclusivity and protects the most vulnerable in society.

"That said, we will continue to meet with government ministers and MSPs from across all parties to help them better understand the impact on our services and to push for a fairer and more proportionate settlement for our capital city."

The Scottish government previously said: "Despite continued UK government real terms cuts to Scotland's resource budget, we have treated local government very fairly - and in the current financial year councils received a real terms boost in both revenue and capital funding."