By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
The leader of Nottingham City Council says putting hundreds of jobs at risk just weeks before Christmas “is not something I want to do” – but says it reflects the “serious situation” the city and authority is now in following a string of financial problems.
A report published ahead of an Executive Board meeting on December 19 reveals the council is facing a £53m gap in its budget for the next financial year, starting in April.
The Labour-run authority has proposed a raft of new cuts to services as well as the loss of 554 jobs.
The council’s chief finance officer issued a Section 114 notice on November 29 over a separate in-year gap of £23m, and all new non-essential spending has now ceased.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Council Leader David Mellen (Lab), said: “This is a difficult day for Nottingham and a difficult day for people who, a week before Christmas, are going to have their jobs put at risk and many of them will have worked for the city council faithfully for many years.
“This is not something, as the leader of the council, I want to do. Equally there are going to be potential reductions to services out there in our communities which will be difficult for people who rely on them.
“We want people to give us their views and I am sure we will get plenty of views this is not something that people want us to do. But we have a legal duty to balance the budget and therefore we will have to make difficult decisions in February.”
The potential job losses mean around one in 10 positions will be cut from a workforce of over 6,000.
Alongside these, the council has detailed proposals to permanently close city centre water features, review its libraries and community centres, cut bus services and cease grant funding to voluntary groups, including lunch clubs.
The authority further plans to raise an additional £7m by hiking council tax by five per cent.
However the proposals will only save the council £33.2m out of the £53m gap.
“The proposals that we are consulting on don’t actually meet the current budget gap, but that budget gap moves around and it will be affected by a number of things,” Cllr Mellen said.
“One is the fact inflation is going down, the second is next week the Government will announce the local government settlement and we will be able to find out how much extra money we are getting.
“Equally the restrictions that are in place in-year might well have a knock on effect to the gap next year. There is no good in pretending this is anything other than a serious situation for Nottingham and for the people.”
Adults and children who are the “most vulnerable” will still be protected, Cllr Mellen said, as part of the authority’s statutory duties.
However he added: “Some of the services that we potentially will be cutting will be ones which effect other people who really need our help.
“We will need to work with the voluntary sector and others to see where that help can come from. Sadly we are proposing in these plans to cut the grants which we give to the voluntary sector which won’t help them in the slightest.”
GMB union, which represents some council staff, warned Nottingham has already been “cut to the bone”.
Adana Godden, GMB Organiser, said: “After decades of austerity, our city is already cut to the bone with vital services across Nottingham struggling with staff shortages.
“GMB members keep Nottingham running and our priority in the coming weeks will be defending them, their jobs and conditions.”
The council remains under continued scrutiny of an improvement board, appointed by the Government upon the collapse of council-run Robin Hood Energy.
It said recently it is considering whether further intervention is required.
Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said on December 5 the financial settlement for councils for next year would provide an above-inflation increase of £64bn.
