Liverpool council to axe 200 jobs to balance books

Feb 27 2008

TAX bills will rise by almost the highest possible amount as Liverpool council battles its cash crisis.

Charges will go up by 4.9% this year – just 0.1% below the government cap – meaning an increase of £39 a year for most city households.

But about 200 jobs will have to go as the council tries to make more than £60m of savings over the next 12 months.

Officials today said they were confident the vast majority of posts would be lost through voluntary redundancies and not replacing employees who leave.

The move is part of a massive service review, which will save the council about £13.4m this year.

Other major implications include:

Increasing charges at council- owned car parks.

Reducing opening hours at some sports centres.

Cutting the number of new library books, although 80,000 will still be bought.

Transferring some social services work to private agencies.

Closing a day nursery attended by 12 children.

Freezing councillors’ allowances.

Transferring Newhall swimming pool, in Fazakerley, to a private operator.

Behind-the-scenes efficiency savings, aimed at cutting red tape and bureaucracy, will reduce town hall costs by a further £21.3m.

They include paying out less money to private agencies, managing job vacancies better and accessing new sources of funding.

Council leader Warren Bradley said: “We have looked closely at whether we need to do certain things in line with our aims and priorities.

“We have always been of the opinion that we want to keep council tax as low as possible, while delivering services to the most vulnerable people in the city.

“The decisions we have come to today through the service review will not affect the vast majority of people in the city.

“In the present financial climate, it is incumbent on us to concentrate on the core business of the council.

“Liverpool is still doing things that maybe other councils do not do any more.

“It has been tough this year because Liverpool’s grant from the government was lower than all the other major cities in the country.”

Meanwhile, the council has also drawn up a “plan B” to find a missing £20m to pay for Capital of Culture. It is still holding out hope that the government will give it permission to borrow the cash via a process known as capitalisation.

But it is still waiting for an answer to its request, a year after it was first made, despite lobbying by city councillors and MPs.

Plan B, which will be formally unveiled to councillors on Friday, involves freeing up money from council accounts – with no impact on council tax bills.

Cllr Bradley said: “We are told capitalisation is still a live option and we are still hopeful of getting it.

“But plan B is also deliverable and we have worked hard on that. It would not impact on council tax.”

This year’s budget, which will be presented to councillors next week, also responds to some of the recent criticism by the independent Audit Commission to the council’s handling of money.

It includes a medium-term financial plan, which says the next two tax increases will be 3.9%, and will increase the council’s savings from £7.5m to £10m.

The Audit Commission had branded Liverpool’s financial performance as the worst in the country, describing it as “inadequate”.

Opposition leader Joe Anderson said: “This budget is an admittance that the council’s finances are in a total mess.

“The council promised financial stability but they have failed to deliver on that miserably.

“The budget highlights more pain for the people of the city, with a council tax rate of nearly 5% and more devastating cuts to services on their way.”

Where the problems have come from > > > >