Conwy County Council Asked Staff For Ideas On Which Non Essential Services To Cut!

Conwy County Council Asked Staff For Ideas On Which Non-Essential Services To Cut and feedback to the authority.

The problem is that many staff are asking what is essential and what is non-essential.

In fairness, some staff believe that redundancies should be made from the top down in the authority.

Now that it is official from WAG that Conwy Council will only get a 2 million increase on the next budget, this will not cover the overspending, so Bankruptcy and services will have to go.

It would be nice to know which services have run over budget and what departments have managed these, surely more scrutiny should be placed here? 

And what about that building in Mochdre, are we still paying rent on a building that cannot be used?

Essential services councils have to provide are 

• Education. Some local authorities are responsible for providing schools within their community. ...
• Waste and recycling. ...
• Social care. ...
• Amenity management and tree work. ...
• Local authorities as social housing landlords. ...
• General domestic safety issues.

And non-essential include,

Parks,

Community Centres etc

But I wonder if this will happen?

Or When?

Definition of a Section 114 Notice What is a S114 Notice? Within the Local Government Finance Act 1988, Section 114 (3) dictates that: “The chief finance officer of a relevant authority shall make a report under this section if it appears to him that the expenditure of the authority incurred (including expenditure it proposes to incur) in a financial year is likely to exceed the resources (including sums borrowed) available to it to meet that expenditure”. 

In general terms this means that for Local Government, it is the Chief Finance Officer or Section 151 officer who has the role under law of being the most senior financial advisor to the wider Council’s leadership on its financial plans. 

Uniquely across the public sector however, the CFO also has the power and responsibility to legally suspend spending for a period of time if they judge the Council does not have a balanced budget or the imminent prospect of one. 

What Happens when a S114 Notice is Issued? It means that no new expenditure is permitted, with the exception of that funding statutory services, including safeguarding vulnerable people, however existing commitments and contracts will continue to be honoured. 

Council officers must therefore carry out their duties in line with contractual obligations and to acceptable standards, while being aware of the financial situation. 

Any spending that is not essential or which can be postponed should not take place and essential spend will be monitored. 

The only allowable expenditure permitted under an emergency protocol would include the following categories: 

 existing staff payroll and pension costs 

 expenditure on goods and services which have already been received  expenditure required to deliver the council’s provision of statutory services at a minimum possible level 

 urgent expenditure required to safeguard vulnerable citizens 

 expenditure required through existing legal agreements and contracts  expenditure funded through ring-fenced grants 

 expenditure necessary to achieve value for money and / or mitigate additional in year costs Councillors have 21 days from the issue of a Section 114 notice to discuss the implications at a Full Council meeting.