AN upcoming government decision will be “critical” to Worcestershire’s financial future, councillors have been told.
An announcement on the biggest shake-up of local government in a generation is expected this month.
Before Parliament’s summer recess, ministers will say whether Worcestershire’s existing councils will be replaced by one unitary authority for the whole of the country or two councils covering the north and south of Worcestershire.
At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Worcestershire County Council’s deputy leader Adam Kent said the authority must reduce its reliance on exceptional financial support (EFS).
CABINET MEMBER: Mel Allcott promised to lobby the government for changes to adult social care (Image: Submitted)
The council needed £59.9 million in EFS in order to deliver a balanced budget this year and more than £30m last year.
Cllr Kent, the cabinet member for finance, said: “A rising EFS figure is not a strategy, it’s a symptom and the council cannot keep managing its finances from one stop-gap to the next.
“We are expecting, within the next few weeks, a decision on local government reorganisation.
“That decision will be absolutely critical to the financial performance and operating ability of whatever structures are put in place for Worcestershire going forward.
“We need to go into that with our finances under control and our savings programme credible, not carrying the same unresolved pressures forward into a new organisation.”
Cllr Kent said the council’s main financial pressures remain children’s and adult social care, and home to school transport.
READ MORE: Worcestershire County Council plans to cut 100 jobs
“What Worcestershire needs more than anything right now is a period of political stability. Residents would never forgive us if we seem to put our own political self-interests ahead of their interests.”
He said he “will now allow” residents to be hit with another nine percent council tax rise.
Council leader Matt Jenkins said: “Over previous years we’ve had a reliance on reserves and especially on EFS and we are in a very difficult financial position now.
“We have less-than-sufficient risk reserves so we cannot use those again, and we’ve borrowed almost £100m from the government just to fund the day-to-day services. This is clearly not viable long-term.
“In the last financial year the previous administration failed to make the cuts required – less than £8m was actually found in savings.
“As a result we find ourselves in the worst position with a need to find much larger savings than this council has ever found before. We face really difficult decisions in the coming year.”
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Independent councillor David Taylor, a former deputy leader of the council under Reform, agreed the previous administration had not worked quickly enough.
Cllr Jenkins called on the government to “fix the system” or give councils more money to operate within the current system.
Mel Allcott, cabinet member for adult social care, vowed to lobby the government for systematic change.
Cllr Adrian Hardman questioned whether the local government reorganisation process could be delayed by a year under a new prime minister, and told cabinet members they would need to make cuts to make the necessary savings.
