Telford & Wrekin Council spending £6.5m of reserves to balance books
Reserves of almost £6.5 million are having to be raided to balance the books at Telford & Wrekin Council, it was revealed today.
The council is having to dip into cash set aside for "contingencies" in order to cover its running costs.
The authority said it continues to face "huge challenges" to stay in the black as Government cuts to its budget continue to bite. Finance officers are having to dip into the contingency fund after unavoidable overspends in two key areas – support for vulnerable adults and the cost of children in care placements.
The council has already cut its budget by £80 million since 2010 and bosses expect to have to find nearly £50 million more in savings by 2020 as the grant the council gets from the Government continues to be reduced.
Bosses admit cuts will be needed in the key areas of adult social care and children in care – but have pledged not to adopt a "slash and burn" approach.
The cuts will instead be phased in over the course of the year, and £6.4 million in contingencies will be used to make that happen, according to a report set to go before the council's ruling cabinet tomorrow.
Councillor Lee Carter, cabinet member for finance at Telford & Wrekin Council, said: "This is another indication of the size and difficulty of the task we face.
"These cuts we now need to make are more and more difficult and will be felt more than ever by our residents, particularly by those who are already feeling the effects of austerity.
"We will be asking our residents for their views of how we make further cuts required as a result of further reductions in the grant that we receive from the Government early next year."
Councillor Carter said the authority would continue to fight for fairer funding from Whitehall, which he claimed would make a massive amount of difference to the council's balance sheet.
