Financially-pressured Derbyshire council chiefs are not yet ruling out redundancies as the local authority aims to overcome a forecast £39.5m budget deficit and gap with a “vacancy factor across pay budgets” among its tough saving and efficiency proposals.

Derbyshire County Council has identified nearly £32m of possible saving and efficiency plans for some of its services likely to affect the elderly, disabled and children – but it has also identified an additional possible saving plan of over £7.5m with what the authority refers to as a “vacancy factor across pay budgets”.

The  “pay budgets” saving is highlighted in the council’s Budget Savings Proposals report for the 2024-25 financial year which the cabinet voted to support at a meeting on Thursday, January 11, before the plans go in front of a scrutiny committee meeting and a later Full Council meeting.

Deputy Council Leader, Cllr Simon Spencer, who is the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Budget, has stated that future staff redundancies cannot be ruled out despite stressing it is too soon to consider any job losses.

The council report states: “The council plans to deliver £31.939m of savings and efficiencies in 2024-25 to help meet this gap.

“In addition, it is planned to introduce a vacancy factor across pay budgets of the council to achieve a further £7.613m of savings in 2024/25.”

Derbyshire County Council has already identified its increased pay award for staff among the pressures that it feels have added to its financial plight including rising costs for children’s services, adult social care, inflation rates, costs of goods and services, interest rates and reduced levels of reserves.

The council stated it has a strong track record of avoiding compulsory redundancies but redundancies are something it cannot rule out as it works towards introducing saving proposals to balance it’s £39.5m budget shortfall for 2024-25 while it has already introduced cost-saving measures to address a £33m budget shortfall for the current 2023-24 financial year.

Derbyshire County Council has argued many councils 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 Spencer has said the council will continue to do everything it can to avoid compulsory redundancies through retraining, redeployment and leaving empty posts unfilled but he has conceded that redundancies cannot be ruled out as is reflected by the possible plan to make over £7.5m of savings with a “vacancy factor across pay budgets”.

The council report states: “These options are brought forward as a result of the requirement for the council to set a balanced budget for 2024/25, taking into account the identified cost pressures and budget assumptions.”

It adds: “Where the proposed savings and efficiencies do not progress, alternative savings will need to be found in order to meet the council’s legal obligations to set a balanced budget.”

The report sets out how the local authority proposes to make savings to set a balanced budget for 2024-25 but Cllr Spencer said if any changes are discussed and introduced at a later stage alternative measures must be in place to ensure the budget is balanced and at least £39.5m of savings are achieved.   

Outlined budget savings proposals in the report involve reviewing and redesigning some services with changes likely to affect the elderly, disabled, those with learning difficulties and children.   

Others include changes to waste disposal, libraries and heritage, and converting the council’s multi-million pound County Hall building, at Matlock, into a hotel, residential space, and a new office site, along with ceasing the production of the Derbyshire Now magazine and reducing the council’s countryside grounds maintenance budget.    

The council’s scrutiny committee will consider the 2024-25 budget report saving proposals on January 22 before the report is further considered by cabinet on February 1 before finally going to a Full Council meeting on February 14 prior to being finalised. 

Many of the proposals, if it is agreed for them to go forward, will be subject to further cabinet reports and then followed by appropriate public engagement or public consultation before any final decisions are made.