Herefordshire Council announces where cuts will fall (From Hereford Times)
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Herefordshire Council announces where cuts will fall
6:00am Thursday 7th February 2013 in News
EVERY aspect of daily life in the county is now in the shadow of the axe as the full extent of Herefordshire Council’s proposed cuts for 2013/14 is revealed this week.
The cuts identified by the council’s root and branch review programme slash at the likes of library opening hours, school transport, care for the elderly and disabled, regular rubbish and recycling collections, and culture and leisure subsidies.
Services for children and young people are hit particularly hard with the review programme proposing big cuts to early years support and school improvement services, the closure or transfer of youth centres, and reductions in what is offered through children’s centres.
Also pitched is the “sale” of Hoople, the company set up to provide public sector support services, independent governance of the Countryside Service, and collaborating – or even integrating – with other councils on services such as social care, highways and education.
Senior management ranks will be thinned out and the diversity, community safety, and emergency planning departments are identified for job losses.
The root and branch review is a key element of the council’s 2013/14 budget and medium term financial strategy, which has to factor in huge year-on-year losses in operational funding from central government.
Cuts identified in the review are expected to save just over £9m with the sum helping cover a budget shortfall that – as previously revealed by the Hereford Times – totals £10m this year alone, caused by a £5.5m slash in central government funding and another £4.5m lost from other external sources.
Ideas from the wider public, invited through the “Make Your Own Cuts” initiative launched last month, do not yet feature in the plan.
Comments(41)
fordshire77
says...
9:00am Thu 7 Feb 13
mizza21
says...
9:04am Thu 7 Feb 13
I wonder of they'll be cutting that?
megilleland
says...
9:37am Thu 7 Feb 13
From Tax Payers' Alliance website:
http://www.taxpayers
alliance.com/pension
stimebomb.pdf
In a series of research notes on public sector pensions, the TaxPayers’ Alliance has revealed that the future of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is bleak unless urgent reforms are made. Previous TaxPayers’ Alliance research discovered that the equivalent of £1 in every £5 of Council Tax is spent on local government pensions and that there is an enormous £54 billion black hole across local government schemes.
For several years now the Tax Payers Alliance has been highlighting the growing number of councillors signing themselves up to the LGPS. They revealed in a paper in January that by 2010-11, over 4,500 councillors had joined the scheme.
Well, today it was announced that taxpayers will be paying for councillors to join the LGPS no more as they are to be barred from being members of the scheme.
This announcement, on the day that Communities and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, also announced the local government funding settlement for England, is a welcome one that reverses a decision to allow local politicians onto the LGPS made just over ten years ago.
Grid Knocker
says...
11:07am Thu 7 Feb 13
tes; 'Herefordshire Matters' being a prime culprit. Yet I don't see it being featured anywhere in this £9M 'shopping list'. Funny that.
bobby47
says...
1:46pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Well I am and all those who've sat beside him and created the vulnerable position we are now in.
Years of throwing money here, there and everywhere, allowing the Council to become a fat, self serving bloated monster that requires so much of our money to feed it.
Our situation is entirely different to many other Councils up and down the Country who are having to make cuts.
We were in a mess before the crash of 2008 and this was because of reckless and irresponsible decisions made in our name.
They say there now going to address the top heavy and bloated Management tree that exists within that place. Why didn't they address it twelve months ago and give us all a better chance of getting through this crisis?
And as for the disposal of 'Hoople' who would bloody want it? It's madness that they even see this as an asset. The only thing Hoople ever did was cost us all a great deal of money and make certain people wealthy as they sucked away at our funds.
This is a bloody disgrace and this bloody leadership should hang their heads in shame after they've asset stripped our homeland and brought us down to a point where I cannot see any hope of or likelihood of a return to prosperity.
This bunch of chaotic and deluded thinkers should pack up and clear off and allow us to assess the real problems that we have.
If it were not for Bill Tanner we wouldn't know as much today as we should and I promise you one thing. Even Bill Tanner has not discovered the real liabilities we now face because of this unholy bunch of political lightweights.
Herefordian07
says...
2:07pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Well said Sire, I couldn't agree more but they will never leave such an easy meal as Hereford. Choo-Choo "Hark I hear the approach of another gravy train" no doubt they chew-chew there way through this one too.
bobby47
says...
2:14pm Thu 7 Feb 13
TwoWheels is back which is a boost and if bloody Lukio would return we'll be at the City gates before Lent.
dippyhippy
says...
3:12pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Re-duced bin collections and re-cycling? O.K, I can live with that. A thinning out of the diversity and community safety department? Yes,I can live with that. Changes at the emergency planning department? Yup,thats not going to hurt too badly either. But - cuts to the elderly and disabled ? SHAME ON THEM. I really hope they do swing an axe at the upper and middle management,because there is precious little left to cut from the front line. I am so glad Gridknocker mentioned Hereford Matters.That wouldn't harm anybody if it never saw the light of day again. And what about all the property that the council owns? As far as I know, they still own "Hillside" , off Southbank Road,and its going to wrack and ruin.Has been empty for months and months. Sell off some of these un-used assets,and that would put a pretty penny back in the pot.
mizza21
says...
3:30pm Thu 7 Feb 13
My favourite sentence above is :
"The cuts identified by the council’s root and branch review programme slash at the likes of library opening hours"
Unfortunately it is directly followed by schoool transport and care for the elderly and disabled which is far from being my favourite or indeed nice in any way at all.
Perhaps they should slash at the funding allocated to the OLM and roadsigns and bottled water and inflated salaries and expenses and each others throats
littlewhitebull
says...
3:49pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Roger J
says...
4:03pm Thu 7 Feb 13
bobby47
says...
4:31pm Thu 7 Feb 13
I'd have them all in a queue, rather like the one the nit nurse used to have us in at School way back when.
They'd come into my little potting shed and I'd have three things. Three little things essential to my role. Firstly a note pad and a soft leaded pencil to make notes of the record of the encounter. Second, a slice of Fudge or a piece of Cadburys chocolate and third, a large hyperdermic needle containing 400milligrames of Sodium Pentaphol.
Id say to the first Director, Manager, Supervisor or Team Leader, 'Hello would you like a piece of this delicious fudge to take your mind off this needle that Im going to shove in one of your main arteries'.
After the truth serum was delivered I'd say, 'do you do anything that's of benefit to us and are you worth the money.'
Under the spell of my generous dose of this truth drug they'd reply, 'Glad you asked. My role is pointless and a complete waste of money thank you very much'.
After they'd returned to a state of normality I'd send them packing with a little slice of fudge.
And that's the way to weed out the dross and the pointless jobs within that Council.
TwoWheelsGood
says...
4:37pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Ubique5740
says...
4:38pm Thu 7 Feb 13
bobby47
says...
4:45pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Ubique5740
says...
4:56pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Below are their Objectives , it appears that they have failed on a umber of points.
To improve outcomes for residents
To be continually improving service quality and cost
To be an intelligent provider
To be a catalyst for change in public services
To be a secure and sustainable partner for our customers
To be a growing business adding value for our shareholders
dippyhippy
says...
5:13pm Thu 7 Feb 13
t provider","catalyst for change"."sustainable partner","adding value". All of these are just council speak. Jargon,to make them sound as if they are actually doing something of some use to somebody at some point in time somewhere.
Well,they aren't.Removing Jarvis is the only" catalyst for change" that I want to see.That alone would "improve outcomes" for many of us.And,I might add,would "intelligently provide" some "value!"
littlewhitebull
says...
6:24pm Thu 7 Feb 13
"To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target."
megilleland
says...
8:34pm Thu 7 Feb 13
As for Hoople (def: A useless or self-serving organization. A wasteful business run by incompetents. A public sector organization with no useful purpose other than to generate paperwork, internal reports and provide incomes for its executives. A quango.) - that warrants a thread all of its own.
19th October 2012 Council monthly expenditure.
Payment to Hoople Ltd
£730,979 for third party payments.
What do they do that the council can't?
TwoWheelsGood
says...
10:41pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Chairman of the Board: Mrs June French. Former deputy council leader, who just happened to sanction setting up Hoople before she stepped down from the council. Former cabinet member for corporate and customer services who had direct responsibility for elected oversight of the council's IT programme and thus responsible for the 2006/7 IT scandal that lost us tens of millions and led to the (now hard to find) Crookall report. Julie Holmes, author of the scandal, left with a pay-off and a secrecy agreement. Her boss, Jane Jones, just happened to be married to the CEO Neil Pringle, who left following a secret meeting to agree terms for early retirement. Ker-ching.
Managing Director: Mike Dearing, 33. Chum of Dean Taylor, our Acting Chief Executive (and also a Hoople director). Came from Bucks CC, where he was 'interim head of service transformation' and left after admitting employing too many managers and then having to bung them £1.2m to leave. Was also responsible for a heavily criticised £3.7m office refurbishment to ‘improve the way staff are able to work'. Now promises to save the council £33m over 10 years (which is really not very much). Coincidentally arrived at about the time Dean Taylor was appointed, himself having left Bucks CC … and so it goes on …
They claim to 'Consistently deliver an excellent quality of service' - is that why I've been unable to search the planning website for the last 24 hours then?
WYSIATI
says...
10:51pm Thu 7 Feb 13
Staff costs of £115M of which the senior management get a bit over 1% (I wonder how that compares to most other organisations).
You won't find me disagreeing that spending on public services needs to be carefully planned and properly delivered but simply throwing the toys out of the pram and pretending it's all fixed by scrapping Herfordshire Matters or bottles of water that were dropped so long ago the local water supplier probably gave and sacked a few staff years ago isn't going to fix it.
Elsewhere on this site there is some really heartening stuff about not being prejudiced and bigoted - maybe we could ask for a bit of the same when it comes to those who get up every day and go and work hard serving the public in the face of a miserable environment, a brutal set of cuts imposed by the Government and a stream of abuse and insults from too many of us.
The Govt is driving through major changes in how our society works and how it looks after the less advantaged and we focus on biscuits, bottled water and wishing we did not start from where we are?
WYSIATI
says...
12:53am Fri 8 Feb 13
It is impossible to run a county or a country if the mood music and public debate is at this level. There was a time when the brightest and best went for careers in public service - now they go for the easy and well paid option - they go to the city, the take the lawyers jobs. If the people end up despising the Govt the place has no future.
We had no chance to vote for what was going to be done in our name. We rely on institutions to organise and prevent conflict in our lives and provide us with ever more services - but we expect not to pay for them or to only pay for those we have (or think we have) - the Govt forces outsourcing which moves jobs to lower pay for more time with no security - and no pension - result the company makes a mint, the workers need tax credits to survive before eventually retiring on a pension that's paltry and probably needs topping up with benefits.
The political mood music is to fundamentally reduce the role of local Govt - take local accountability out of schools, outsource services, privatise what's left - not sure we're going to like the results.
Ubique5740
says...
7:27am Fri 8 Feb 13
Hope our King does not read them, will not a good way for him to start the day.
Grid Knocker
says...
7:41am Fri 8 Feb 13
fordshire77
says...
8:34am Fri 8 Feb 13
mizza21
says...
9:42am Fri 8 Feb 13
I work for an outsource company in a Public Sector Organisation.
I see the waste every day. I see things you simply cannot afford in the private sector.
Generous pensions, subsidised canteens, expensive unnecessary refurbishments, money spent in a hurry in the last financial quarter to make sure the budget is not cut next year etc etc.
You are quite right though. It's easy to criticise unless you have walked a mile in the shoes of the victim.
One important point:
We pay their wages out of our money which we have had to go to work to earn and we have no choice but to pay or we'll be locked up by one of their agencies.
I read TWGs post and am amazed this is not a huge scandal. I am certainly scandalised. I had several OMG moments reading it..
I wouldn't want to do their job in a million years, however I will happily vote for Bobby47 if he is prepared to pick up the mantle.
I shall wander the streets wearing a "please vote for Bobby47" sandwich board if that's what it takes.
ad47uk
says...
9:53am Fri 8 Feb 13
Apart from road sweeping and lighting , the bins is the only other service that I use that is paid for by our council tax.
oh well, I can keep a bag of rubbish out side for a week, not a problem. Just no tories ask for my vote at the next election.
GDJ
says...
1:00pm Fri 8 Feb 13
WYSIATI wrote:You're right that the things like water, biscuits or magazines - or even the salary of individuals is tiny in comparison to the budget, but I think the point is the signal it gives to the front line workers. If you are overstretched or threatened with redundancy you have a right to know your senior managers are being very frugal wherever possible.
So now we want to cut the contractual pensions of employees - is that above and beyond the changes to that pension scheme that have been negotiated/imposed in the past year? According to the accounts the pension cost last year was £5.7M, (if I understand it) out of a turnover of £367M and a council tax income of £78M. Staff costs of £115M of which the senior management get a bit over 1% (I wonder how that compares to most other organisations). You won't find me disagreeing that spending on public services needs to be carefully planned and properly delivered but simply throwing the toys out of the pram and pretending it's all fixed by scrapping Herfordshire Matters or bottles of water that were dropped so long ago the local water supplier probably gave and sacked a few staff years ago isn't going to fix it. Elsewhere on this site there is some really heartening stuff about not being prejudiced and bigoted - maybe we could ask for a bit of the same when it comes to those who get up every day and go and work hard serving the public in the face of a miserable environment, a brutal set of cuts imposed by the Government and a stream of abuse and insults from too many of us. The Govt is driving through major changes in how our society works and how it looks after the less advantaged and we focus on biscuits, bottled water and wishing we did not start from where we are?
This article says that senior management will be thinned out - all well and good, but they have or are about to appoint two assistant directors. There are other departments where there has been recruitment in the last year but redundancies happening now.
Part of leadership is by example - sending the right signals not just issuing orders. So the cost of bottled water isn't important. The fact that senior managers still buy it, is.
bobby47
says...
1:14pm Fri 8 Feb 13
Id say to our Editor Fiona Phillips.'Flick the switch that allows us the opportunity to swear and curse and hurl our anger toward these freeloaders who've asset stripped us and taken advantage of our weakness.
I say, 'flick the switch' and give us twenty four hours to swear and curse and generally moan and groan about this issue without our words being **** bloody **** deleted.
Mr.Herefordian
says...
2:54pm Fri 8 Feb 13
dippyhippy
says...
3:17pm Fri 8 Feb 13
megilleland
says...
2:02pm Sat 9 Feb 13
http://www.dailymail
.co.uk/news/article-
2275882/They-squeal-
cuts-truth-town-hall
s-spending--fleecing
-you.html
He did meet with the parties involved with the proposed Georgian deal and he was seen to have a quiet word with Cllr Roger Phillips asking "Will No One Rid Me Of This Meddlesome Councillor".
http://www.bbc.co.uk
/news/uk-england-her
eford-worcester-2134
9961
megilleland
says...
2:05pm Sat 9 Feb 13
Ubique5740
says...
2:10pm Sat 9 Feb 13
bobby47
says...
9:56pm Sat 9 Feb 13
As for Henry the second dispatching poor Tom, all i can say is if he was as stubborn as our Mr Jarvis, I can fully understand the need to put him to the sword.
Ubique, Well said my good friend. Mind you, I aint so sure this bulging vein in my bloody neck can take anymore.
I promise you and all the other Posters if this throbbing vein does explode and I'm given enough time to write a little note before I start running to the light, Im going to write on that note, 'JARVIS HAS MURDERED ME'.
Then I'll staple that tiny note to my corpse and with luck and good fortune the Constable will find me slumped over my fishing rod, find the bloody note that I will have signed and dated and that should give you all some respite from his mad and chaotic decisions. He's sure to do ten years for this wrongdoing.
How d'ya like them apples Mizza.
JohnBoym458
says...
11:41am Sun 10 Feb 13
!! Not one of the ruling parties that have governed this country have had any sort of back bone when it comes to "Taking Care Of Its Own". Liars, Cheats and down right Villains are the only words that can describe MP's & Councilors of today.........
TwoWheelsGood
says...
1:51pm Sun 10 Feb 13
probono
says...
8:16am Tue 12 Feb 13
wyesider
says...
5:00pm Tue 12 Feb 13
After all, compared to some of the UK's 400+ councils they are quite poorly paid?
Cornwall decided to increase their councillors' allowances by 20%, thus taking basic allowances to £14,600 per annum - thus adding £300,000 to the taxpayers' burden.
C'est la vie.
CJM1957
says...
10:58pm Tue 12 Feb 13
Themightyboosh says...
6:09am Thu 7 Feb 13
well there's a supprise......"resum
es banging head against wall"