A PLAN to make £64M of cost savings over four years has been unveiled by Bury Council.

The council said an already challenging situation has been made worse by the covid pandemic with revenues from council tax and business rates falling while demand for many services has increased.

A report to the council’s cabinet called ‘setting the 2021/22 budget’ shows a plan to achieve most of the savings by using cash reserves, budget reductions and efficiencies through transformation of services.

However, even if all the changes set out are made there remains a shortfall in funding of £15.3M over the period with the council exploring ‘further options’ to plug that gap.

The report, written by Lisa Kitto, the council’s interim director of financial transformation said ‘failure to act will mean that the council’s long term financial sustainability will be at risk’.

The report states that the council faces a budget gap of £64M over the four years of which £31.2M relates to 2021/22 prior to any proposed savings and use of reserves.

It notes that there will still be a residual gap of £15.3M over the four year period should all savings proposals and use of reserves in the document be accepted and that a gap of £4.2M remains by the end of the second year of the strategy.

The report states that ‘further work is underway to identify further options’ to save that cash.

Cuts outlined in the document include for children and young people for 2021/22 of £1.1M

It outlines a ‘wider transformation’ of services and states: ” Avoiding escalation to costly care options, particularly out of borough placements, is the most effective way to reduce spending.”

The report says that £3M of savings could be found in all age disability integration.

The report, said: “Our vision for learning disabilities services in Bury is an all age service, which would remove the need for transitions providing one smooth pathway for customers.

“To do this we will work differently recognising peoples strengths, ensuring all care is outcome focused, so all customers are aware that it’s individual first not their disability.

“We need to prevent out of borough placements where possible, therefore we will work collaboratively with partners to improve our local offer in education, housing and respite, allowing

individuals to remain part of their community and improve equity for all Bury customers.”

Another £2M is set to be saved through adult social care with the council ‘moving from our traditional approach of social care assessment and support planning to a more personalised approach, recognising the strength of our residents and ensuring community, family and carer support options are fully explored before providing additional support’.

There are also proposals to close some unspecified civic venues and rationalise the borough’s vehicle fleet along with ‘optimising waste collection rounds and street cleansing litter rounds’.

Dimming many street lights between midnight and 6am is also set to save £40,000 per year.

Transformation projects included to save cash include ‘agile working’ which will see most council workers given the option of working partly from home.

The council says this will lead to an ‘improvement in staff productivity and reduction in council owned and occupied buildings and operating costs’.

The customer service strategy plans to ‘extend the council’s reach to communities and secure economies of scale by streamlining all customer contact into a coherent corporate function’.

The report said: ” The options are expected to make a significant contribution to the £5M target but more options are likely to be required to balance the budget over the next two years.”

The report touched on the remaining shortfall in savings that need to be made.

It said: “Clearly there is still some more progress to be made and the executive team is currently looking at other options that can be used to bridge the gap.

“The outcome of this work will be reported in subsequent reports to cabinet.”

The document will be debated by councillors and its contents will go out for public consultation if approved by cabinet prior to the 2021/22 budget being set in February.