£6 million contingency fund to ease burden of cuts to services in Telford

Telford & Wrekin Council said its latest budget information shows it is still under strain and will have to continue to make cuts.

The council has already cut its budget by £80 million since 2010 and expects to have to find another £47 million of cuts by 2020 as the Government grant is cut further.

But it said that financial pressures are still strong in providing support to vulnerable adults and the cost of children in care placements.

Supporting vulnerable adults accounts for almost one third of the council's budget, while the costs linked to children in care reflects pressures nationally following a number of high profile child care cases.

The council intends to "phase-in" the cuts in both areas and will use £6.4 million of contingencies to do so, money that has been put aside exactly for this purpose.

A report is set to go to the council's cabinet on Thursday highlighting the plan to improve the financial pressures in these areas.

Councillor Lee Carter, cabinet member for finance, partnerships and commercial services, 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 whose 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."

The council is continuing to call for the Government to increase the "spending power" it allocates to the council, which it said would provide much-needed extra funding.

Councillor Carter said: "Against this backdrop, it's key that we fight for every penny that we are due.

"For example, if this borough had just the average of the Government's own measure of councils spending power, we'd have an extra £12 million a year to spend on services such as those for vulnerable adults and children.

"That's the equivalent of £163 a year for every household in the borough – all we ask for is our fair share."