THE ending of the Thurrock Council contract with Serco will save millions, Cllr John Kent has said.
He was speaking at Wednesday (9 September) evening’s meeting of the council’s cabinet, looking at the council’s financial position.
Cllr Kent said: “You may remember that last year I highlighted that the amount of money we received from the government had fallen by a third – 10 million pounds.
“This year there has been another cut of 10 million pounds, so this year’s cut was of a full one-third. Government grant totalled £40 million two years ago and was reduced to £30 million. Next year we’re expected to do the same job with £20 million.”
But the Leader of the Council thanked and congratulated colleagues from other parties saying: “Senior councillors from all three parties and senior officers have come together in evening meetings throughout August and this past week to discuss the issues and possible solutions, not just in this year – for we do have to make in-year savings both because of where we’ve failed to hit our targets and because the government has announced new cuts, in Public Health for example – but looking ahead two and three years too.
“I’ve always felt working together is the best way forward, but these days with a council split three ways, it is the only way forward. Every party leader and every councillor must take on board the fact that we can’t spend willy-nilly; they money’s just not there.”
He added: “If we suddenly decide to do one thing, the money has to come from not doing something else.
“And there’s no point in saying ‘take it from reserves’ either as the report. It makes it perfectly clear we are already facing major challenges on maintaining our reserves at £8 million, we cannot risk losing more.”
He explained that in the current financial year “we are looking at pressures of over a million pounds including Serco savings that never appeared and the twin issues around the environment, spending more than expected to keep the streets clean and the parks tidy plus the unexpected impact of the closure of the local recycling plant we used”.
And Cllr Kent said: “I’d like to highlight the impact that ending the Serco contract will have.
“Around 400 people will be returning to direct employment with the council and our analysis shows we will be saving over £3 million a year from 1 December, most of that in the General Fund.”
But he also said the council still faced “an estimated budget gap of over £28 million for the four years between 2016/17 and 2019/20” although he was “confident our joint working and our shared understanding of the issues will ensure that, come the end of March 2016, we will be as well placed as any other local authority; ready to move forward with our new chief executive keeping Thurrock Council on an even keel and prepared to meet the challenges to come”.
