Member Article

Middlesbrough Council to slash 220 jobs amidst £14 million cuts

Elected Mayor Ray Mallon has outlined cuts of more than £14 million to Middlesbrough Council’s budget for the 2015-16 financial year which will result in further significant changes to local services and the loss of more than 220 jobs.

In total, nearly £70 million has been removed from the Council’s budget since 2011.

The ongoing austerity measures and reductions in public sector spending imposed by the Coalition Government will see the Council’s annual budget reduced by more than £138 million by 2019-20, with the loss of a further 600 jobs.

At last night’s meeting, Mr Mallon outlined a total of 51 proposals to achieve savings of £14.1 million in the coming financial year.

Proposals for 2015/16 include: reduction in administrative support and increased use of IT to save more than £2 million, transferral of sports and leisure centres to an external trust to save £1.66 million and a reduction in the annual contribution to mima by £410k.

Moreover, there will be a removal of a number of bus service subsidies to save £36k, a reduction in Economic Development and Communities senior management posts to save £250k as well as a reduction in the purchase of books for libraries by 50% to save £100k.

A reconfiguration of the delivery of Youth Offending Services will also be implemented to save £230k.

The cuts and savings will result in the loss of around 220 jobs, with efforts made to achieve as many as possible through voluntary redundancy and early retirement.

At least 350 staff will also transfer back to the Council from its strategic partner Mouchel, with a further 200 transferring out to other organisations.

Mr Mallon also told Council that he would once again oppose any offer of a Council Tax freeze grant from Government, describing it as a ‘stealth tax’ which would create deeper financial problems, potentially up to £18 million over 10 years, for the future.

A full debate on an increase of up to 2% in Council Tax will take place at a forthcoming meeting.

Mr Mallon said: “The choices are very stark now, but we have a duty to safeguard the finances of the town while protecting front line services where we can.

“Leadership is about doing what’s right, not what is popular and that is what this budget is all about.

“In an ideal world, we wouldn’t make any of these cuts, and I have stated from the outset that they are too deep and too savage.

“The emphasis now is on minimising the impact on frontline services and making the most effective use of the resources available to us.”

A period of public consultation is now under way before recommendations are put forward in the next stage of budget setting process.

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