The Council's first budget consultation meeting with the voluntary and community sector took place on 27 October, with Cllr Foster leading the presentation, together with Brian Walsh, the new Director of Community Services and Barry Hastie, Assistant Director (Financial Management). The Council needs to continue to deliver high quality services, but also needs to set a balanced budget so much of the emphasis is on looking at how services are delivered, what outcomes they are actually achieving and achieving better value for value and consistency in services, i.e. better services at lower cost.

Although the Council can borrow to address a shortfall in its capital budget, its revenue budget must balance. The Council is currently facing a £10m deficit for 2010/11, rising to £24m in 2011/12 and £38m in 2012/13. The savings proposed would eliminate the 2010/11 deficit, and reduce the 2011/12 and 2012/13 deficits to £8m and £20m, if all options are accepted by Elected Members, and it is the task of the ABC programme (which stands for a better Council for a bolder Coventry) to identify means of delivering these further savings, particularly by looking at how services are delivered and whether better outcomes can be achieved at lower cost. The biggest savings proposed for 2010/11 include:

• £270,000 through implementing the approved policy on community centres gap funding
• £500,000 through meeting Single Status costs through the Dedicated Schools Grant
• £500,000 through reviewing the service with CV One and looking for economies of scale
• £350,000 through reviewing street cleansing and grounds maintenance
• £540,000 through continuing to personalise care and giving greater choice by putting more money in domicilary and home-based care rather than more expensive institutional care
• £1,100,000 through vacancies and staff turnover
• £300,000 (leading to £600,000 p.a.) through removing 10 senior management posts
• £250,000 through reviewing administration generally
• £1,500,000 by freezing standard supplies and services budgets
• £500,000 through reviewing the policy on debt repayment
• £500,000 through a review of procurement

Service providers in particular need to continue to prepare for greater personalisation of care and the greater use of individual budgets for people to buy their care with, given the greater emphasis this is now being given.

Grant-funded organisations will, as with last year, be expected to absorb a 3% reduction.  Although this will come with an impact, this approach is still preferable to specific services being taken out completely. Organisations who can demonstrate a strong business case may be exempted from the reduction, as was the case last year with advice services facing increased demand for their services due to the recession.

There is a further £24m deficit on capital expenditure over the next 2-3 years which will be partially addressed through borrowing.

The Council's financial situation is exacerbated by the recession, which increases demand on some services whilst cutting income from fees and potential property sales. The Council is also anticipating a reduction in income from central Government after 2010/11 and potentially a cap on Council Tax increases. This combination of factors is known in local government circles as "the perfect storm" in the same way that a series of unusual weather conditions can combine to generate a particularly powerful storm. Reductions in expenditure from 2011/12 onwards could be far deeper than those proposed for 2010/11.

The attendance on 27 October was rather low given the gravity of the situation. These meetings do give an excellent opportunity to hear in depth the Council's thinking and to engage in discussion with senior decision-makers - there is a further opportunity to attend on 11 November, 6.00 - 7.30pm in Committee Room 7 at the Council House. To confirm your attendance please contact Sandra Daniel at the City Council on 7683 3730 or sandra.daniel@coventry.gov.uk. If you are unable to attend but would like to comment or have any other queries, please contact Robina Nawaz on 7683 3060 or robina.nawaz@coventry.gov.uk

To download the report including the proposed savings, click here

http://cmis.coventry.gov.uk/CMISWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=14682