Derbyshire council considers cost-saving care changes as it faces further multi-million pound budget deficit

The Conservative-led council, which has already predicted a forecast budget overspend of £33m for the 2023/24 financial year, has now predicted an even bigger £39.5m budget shortfall for the subsequent 2024/25 financial year.

But if the proposed savings are agreed upon at a later date, it is hoped they could save the authority millions of pounds and support the setting of a balanced budget.

County Council Leader Councillor Barry Lewis and Deputy Leader Councillor Simon Spencer have announced that they have been left with no choice but to put forward the raft of multi-million-pound savings proposals which, if agreed, would affect many services used by thousands of Derbyshire residents.

Cllr Lewis, said: “We have always prided ourselves on being a prudent, financially stable and well-managed council, balancing our books from year to year, maintaining a strong level of reserves and keeping council tax as low as possible, while providing vital, value-for-money services for our residents. However, we have made no secret of the fact that we are facing pressures like never before.

“We have been calling for more Government support and for a drastic change to the way we are funded, especially in children’s and adults’ social care, to ensure we can continue to stay afloat.

“As recently as December we called for urgent additional funding and a pledge of intervention in the immediate future to fix the deeply broken and uncompetitive market for children’s residential care.”

In a report – which is to be considered by the council’s cabinet on January 11, and which has been publicly released on January 3 – the budget savings proposals under consideration include:

Redesigning the council-owned direct care offer of five short stay residential homes and four building-based day centres for people with a learning disability or who are autistic;

Redesigning of the services provided by the council through the 16 council-owned and managed residential care homes and ten building-based day care centres for older people;

Redesigning the current council-owned care and support delivery arrangements within extra care settings for older people;

Reviewing the delivery of children’s centres operations and reviewing the children’s services Early Help service;

Changing policy for post-16 home to school transport to be in keeping with other local authorities;

And reviewing residential short break and support services for disabled children.

Other savings proposals not involving care services include:

Restricting or charging for the waste disposal of tyres and asbestos and generating income by offering small businesses the opportunity to use the centres for a fee;

Modernising, rationalising and transforming the way in which the council delivers its library and heritage services;

Reviewing the usage and options for Derbyshire County Council’s County Hall offices, at Matlock. The council has previously announced that it is looking at possibly selling off its County Hall building which may be converted into a hotel, or residential space, offices and community facilities;

Ceasing the production of the Derbyshire Now magazine and reducing the council’s countryside grounds maintenance budget.

Last September, the council put in place a number of strict cost-control measures following its announcement of an original forecast in-year budget overspend of £46.4m for the 2023/24 financial year which has now been reduced to £33m.

The Conservative-led council ceased all non-essential spending, implemented a conditional hiring freeze, and introduced cost-saving measures, actions and cuts to reduce its estimated budget deficit to £33m for the current 2023/24 financial year.

Cost-control measures which have been introduced by the council include: Reducing the use of agency staff; Reducing overtime; Stopping non-essential conferences, travel or training; Reducing print, IT equipment and stationery spending; Only carrying out health and safety repairs on properties; Ceasing or delaying procurement for supplies and services and postponing projects still in the planning stage, where expenditure is non-essential.

Changes since September have also included increasing school meal prices by about 41per cent, potentially reducing the number of people who can claim for adult care, putting plans for a new Staveley bypass on hold as well as reviewing how it rolls out its library service.

The council has also previously announced plans to close ten of its Chesterfield area offices, and it has been looking at cutting opening hours and bringing in potential charges at its household waste tips.

Derbyshire County Council has already argued that many councils across the country are experiencing similar external, financial issues due to previous high inflation rates, Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis, and it has stopped all non-essential spending and implemented a hiring freeze, except for essential jobs, and it is facing more tough decisions and a restriction in how much council tax can be raised.

Cllr Lewis has also been calling for the Government to deal with the ‘runaway’ costs of looking after children in care while dealing with profit-making private providers.

Derbyshire County Council has previously stated that it has also had to dramatically cut its entitlement cash-figure limit from £50,000 to £23,250 for those eligible for adult care in order to sustain the service meaning those with more than £23,250 of capital will miss out on subsidised support.

The county council has also felt it necessary to increase the cost of a school meal by about 41per cent from £2.30 to £3.25. It has stated that it is facing budgetary pressures far greater than experienced before due to factors beyond its control, but it has to legally set a balanced budget.

Derbyshire County Council has since confirmed that its departments have been identifying the financial pressures their services are under and where savings or efficiencies might be made as part of the process of setting the council budget in February, for the financial 2024/25 year.

The council had hoped for a better share of recent Government funding proposals with an increase closer to 10per cent instead of the current 6.5per cent but Cllr Spencer has stressed that lobbying will continue for more Government funding and he does not mind whatever form it takes as long as it comes quickly.

Cllr Lewis added: “No council leader ever wants to be in a position where they are putting forward cost-saving measures of this nature but along with councils up and down the country the pressures are huge, and simply beyond our control.

“We have to do everything we can to balance our books and ensure we continue to provide the services our residents rely on and deserve, and to do that we have no choice but to put forward these proposals which, if agreed, could help us to achieve that.”

The council claims that like many authorities across the country it is facing unprecedented budgetary pressures due to factors beyond its control.

These pressures have been cited as dealing with higher than anticipated inflation and higher prices for fuel, energy and materials, meeting the cost of the national pay award set nationally but met locally, and the continued unprecedented increase in demand for vital adults’ and children’s social care services.

Cllr Spencer, who is also the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Budget, said: “We have been working round the clock to ensure we can set a balanced budget but unfortunately we have no choice but to consider making savings by changing, reducing or stopping some of the services we provide.

“Over the past 13 years we have made £300m of budget savings, and it becomes more and more difficult to find savings from already very lean and efficient services.

“All avenues have been explored and we will continue to do our best for the residents of Derbyshire, but unfortunately we have reached the point where we need to make those tough decisions.

“If these savings and efficiency proposals do not progress, alternative savings will need to be found in order to meet our legal obligations to maintain a balanced budget.”

The council’s Improvement and Scrutiny Committee met on December 14 and considered the council’s budget-setting process with a plan to take the latest budget saving proposals report for 2024/25 to the cabinet meeting on January 11, 2024, for consideration.

Feedback from the Your Council Your Voice public consultation which closed on December 17 will also be worked into the budget-setting process.

The scrutiny committee will further consider the budget report at a meeting on January 22 and provide feedback before it is considered again by cabinet at a meeting on February 1 before going to a Full Council meeting on February 14.

Derbyshire County Council stated that the report sets out how the local authority intends to make its savings and set a balanced budget for 2024-25.

Many of the saving proposals, if agreed upon, will be subject to further cabinet reports and then followed by appropriate public engagement or consultation before any final decisions are made.

In addition, Derbyshire County Council has stated that it has a strong track record of avoiding compulsory redundancies but also that redundancies are something that cannot be ruled out in the current financial situation.

Cllr Spencer said “It is too early to talk about job losses, and at Derbyshire we have a strong track record of doing everything we can to avoid compulsory redundancies through retraining, redeployment and leaving empty posts unfilled and that will continue. Unfortunately redundancies cannot be ruled out with the scale of the budget savings we have to make.

“This report has many stages to go through first and will be subject to close scrutiny. We will do all we can to mitigate any service changes and will continue to do our best for our residents.”