A further £10m of cuts have been identified by county bosses as they look to drive-down spending.
Lancashire County Council’s cabinet will meet tomorrow to discuss further savings to be implemented into next year’s budget, which will include back-office savings, scrapping a newsletter, and savings in senior management.
County Coun Geoff Driver, leader of Lancashire County Council, said the savings had been identified as part of a ‘whole culture change’ across the authority, which has seen frontline staff suggest where money could be saved.
Coun Driver said: “We have said all along that we are going to protect frontline services, and we are doing that. These are below the line or back office savings. We are changing the culture of the place so people don’t just come into the office, do their jobs and go home.
“We are asking them how to improve the services. The council is not a business. But it must be business-like.
“We have needed to change the culture and take the staff with us.
“They are working with us and contributing in a big way.”
Increased demand for services such as social care, and increases in inflation, has created a £9.8m gap in the authority’s three-year budget plan – which looks to save £205m by 2014.
To address this, spending on training will be reduced by £350,000, reviewing HR policies will save £500,000, and ‘staffing efficiencies’ –which includes removing vacant posts – will save £762,000.
Reviewing subscriptions and advertising spends will save £200,000, and efficiencies in waste will save £763,000.
Coun Driver said: “Every household is making savings and the county council is no different.
“You have to recognise the situation you are in and decide how you get out of it.
“You decide what your priorities are, and in our case they are looking after the vulnerable, the elderly, disabled people and young people.
“We are not reducing training, because that’s a vital part of what we do.
“Rather than sending our people out of the county it’s a lot cheaper to bring the trainer to us. In four years of our administration we will spend £200m less on bureaucracy, which means we will then put money in the frontline.”
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