By Cllr Stephen Conway
Earlier this week, I had a moving conversation in one of the isles of my local supermarket.
The gentleman who spoke with me wanted to express his thanks for the work that Wokingham Borough Council was doing to help his wife, who requires intensive care from adult social services. The difference that this care is making to her life (and to his) is enormous.
The conversation had a big effect on me, adding a human dimension to all the facts and figures that council leaders process and digest.
To make sure such important and life-changing work can continue in very challenging financial times makes it necessary to find savings in other parts of the council’s expenditure. That is why we are having to make tough choices in areas of the council’s services that are less profound in their impact on people’s lives than the wonderful work done by Adults and Children’s services.
The council, as you will know, receives the lowest amount of central government core funding of all the unitary authorities in England. If the council were supported to the same extent as the average unitary, we would be receiving £30 million a year more than we do.
Last year, we were given just £1.8 million, which was nowhere near enough to cover a fraction of our rising costs.
Under-funding by central government has been a long-standing problem, but now it is compounded by inflation, increasing demand for our services, and high interest rates, which make the cost of servicing the borrowing for capital projects much more expensive.
Other councils, with much greater central government support than Wokingham, have found the current financial situation impossible to handle. They have gone bankrupt, and the government has appointed commissioners to take over. These commissioners have inflicted deep cuts in services and increases in council tax that are much higher than the government’s cap on other councils.
Slough is the nearest example, but Thurrock and Woking are in the same category.
We are determined not to go the same way. Under these severe financial pressures, we are exploring lots of options. We are looking at better contract management; at new ways of delivering services with external partners; at trading council services with other councils; at commercial opportunities, such as advertising; and at rationalization of the council’s estate.
But important as these initiatives are, they will not provide us with the all the savings or income generation required to cover our rising costs. We have no choice, therefore, but to make savings where we can safely do so.
As we want to safeguard spending on the most vulnerable and in need – such as the lady whose husband told me of her situation and what the council’s Adult Social Care team is doing to help her – we must concentrate our savings efforts in those areas that have a less profound impact on people’s lives.
Focusing our limited resources on helping those most in need has been a priority for the current administration running the council. It will continue to be our priority over this year and beyond. Every pound we save elsewhere reduces the pressure on services that make a real difference to those for whom daily life is an ongoing struggle.
Cllr Stephen Conway is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council and ward member for Twyford
