A root-and-branch review of Leicestershire County Council’s spending has identified potential extra savings of up to £60m.
This is on top of £44m of savings already identified in the council’s four-year budget plan.
Published today (Friday), a new report shows that a wide range of measures - including expanding social care teams to boost independence, supporting the care market, intervening to prevent people reaching crisis point and creating more residential care places - would significantly drive down costs.
Experts, Newton, who’ve led the review, say between £32m and £60m could be saved and that changes would also boost services for residents.
“Simply put, this is about making every pound of taxpayers’ money work harder.
“And not only that. We care and by working smarter, we can do even more to improve our residents’ lives and protect the services they value.
“This is a pioneering project and no stone has been left unturned. This work opens up opportunities we can explore to reduce costs further over the next few years.
“It’s a starting point and opens the door to further opportunities.”
“Residents expect us to grip our budget and reduce costs and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Person:Council leader, Dan Harrison
The review of the authority’s £616 million-a-year net budget began last winter and aims to help close the £85m gap.
Newton and the council have analysed and benchmarked millions of lines of data, reviewed cases of hundreds of residents for improvements, worked closely with service leads and weighed up the scale of opportunities, the likelihood of success and the wider benefits for residents.
“This review is a gamechanger. It takes a huge chunk out of the budget gap and offers the opportunity to reset how the council works.
“Clearly, investment would be needed to create change on this scale but it goes with the territory and will bring big, long-term gains for our taxpayers.
“Setting up a rolling programme, with plenty of ideas in the pipeline, will leave a legacy for Leicestershire.”
Person:Councillor Harrison Fowler, cabinet member for resources
Other areas identified by the review include:
- stepping up support so children can stay with their families
- getting better value from contracts
- maximising data, AI and tech
Improvements to services will include:
- better support when someone comes home from hospital
- more time for staff on front line support
- improved work with NHS and voluntary partners
Next steps will be to create a new major ‘change and improvement’ plan for the council, setting out key initiatives and a resource plan.
Changes in SEND funding nationally, coupled with the efficiency review, are on track to significantly reduce the current forecast budget gap - new budget proposals will be published in December.
The update will be discussed by the council’s scrutiny commission on 11 May and the cabinet on 26 May – tune in online.