Budget-cutting council chiefs in the Highlands have highlighted a “Graph of Doom” as they embark on a major structural shake-up to try to survive an era of permanent austerity.
In a stark warning, officials have reproduced the grim projections used by a London council which forecast that in a few years the cost of providing social services will outstrip its entire budget.
They say that the graph – which shows that by 2022/23 the London borough of Barnet will barely be able to cover its adult social care and children’s services costs, let alone any other spending –is now “used generally to apply to the whole of local government”.
It is highlighted in a new report which calls for a complete “redesign” of Highland Council amid fears it faces a period of “perma-austerity”, with year-on-year budget cuts.
Councillors will consider the proposals at a special meeting on Thursday next week, having recently agreed to axe more than 400 posts to try to plug a £50million blackhole in its finances.
Officials have asked members to agree that there needs to be an organisational overhaul at the local authority, and that a cross-party board of 16 councillors be established to draw-up proposals for the revamp.
The new blueprint for the council would cost £150,000 to be produced, and would have a first deadline of December this year, and a second of March 2017, in time to be implemented in the next financial year.
Major consultation exercises will be held, and it will look to scrap traditional spending processes and moving to “zero-based budgeting” model, while also reviewing the skills needed in the workforce.
In a report to next week’s meeting, officials say: “The financial outlook brings some urgency to the need for the council to re-think and refresh its relationship with our communities.”
It adds: “The time is right to openly explore these relationships and how they might need to change over the medium term.
“There are still significant public resources being invested in the region and we have real assets in our staff, our partners and in our communities.
“A programme of redesign needs to be positive about what can be achieved by refocusing these assets and using them to best effect.”
The report rules out making any recommendations on breaking-up Highland Council into smaller authorities, as some politicians have suggested in recent months.
“The redesign work cannot comment on or propose any reorganisation of local government. While the council may have a view, that is a matter for (national) government,” it says.
