06/10/2022

People have left comments on post -

www.facebook.com/eastrenfrewshirecouncil/

- There’s an extremely strong argument for councillors to review their salaries and the value they give their constituents, because from where I’m sitting it very much looks like a gravy train.
17 m

..... you could start with the salary of the CEO of East Ren Council and work down from there.
4 m

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GLASGOW HERALD ON LINE 10 OCTOBER 2017
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www.heraldscotland.com/news/15585737.eas...ase-tax-10-per-cent/


East Renfrewshire Council to axe jobs to save £26m yet will increase tax by 10 per cent
10th October 2017

By Alan Simpson
alanpurple
News Editor

ONE of Scotland’s best performing local authorities is making £26million worth of savings and axing hundreds of jobs yet will also increase council tax bills by nearly 10 per cent.

East Renfrewshire Council, which has some of the highest achieving schools in the country, is also looking to make “significant” cuts of £9m in its education budget.

This would see class sizes rise in schools, fewer classes in secondaries and all pupil support assistants phased out in just four years.

The Labour-SNP coalition-led council also plans a 10 per cent reduction in its roads budget and a huge £9.11m cut in health and social care – equivalent to savings of 20 per cent.

It comes as councils are facing a financial black hole of more than half a billion pounds in only two years’ time unless they make major cuts, according to an official analysis.

The Accounts Commission forecasts the gap between the amount local government spends and its income could grow from £87m in 2016/17 to an estimated £367m in the current financial year, before rising again to £553m in 2018/19.

More than a third of Scotland’s 32 local authorities will face a funding gap that is greater than the amount of cash they have in reserves, its report said, despite managing their funds well in the face of deep cuts by the Scottish Governments to their grants.

East Renfrewshire, which includes the affluent suburbs of Giffnock and Newton Mearns, has launched a public consultation on setting its budget for the next three years in which it projects a £26m shortfall.

The council said that council tax bills for residents will rise by three per cent in each of the next three years and follows a similar rise this year and will put more than £100 on the annual average Band D rate and will see 300 posts lost. East Renfrewshire will also consider saving £1m by reducing the number of classroom pupil support assistants and behaviour assistants, who look after the most vulnerable children in a school.

East Renfrewshire Council leader, Councillor Tony Buchanan, said: “Some of the proposals being put forward for consultation are extremely challenging however I want to reassure residents that throughout this difficult process the needs of those in our communities who are most vulnerable will continue to be our core focus.

“The financial challenges that ERC faces today are similar to those being experienced in many households.

“Essentially, our income is not increasing at the same rate as our expenditure and as such we have to find new and different ways to make ends meet.”

“We absolutely understand how important this consultation is to our communities, particularly as over 60 per cent of our staff are also local residents.

Local authorities spent £19.5 billion last year, £600m more than their income, with spending increasing on “key services” such as social care “because of rising demand from an ageing population”.

Among the other spending pressures the report cited were staff pensions and servicing more than £13.7bn of debt.

This cost local authorities around £1.5bn in interest and repayments, with 22 of them spending more than 10 per cent of their income servicing debt.

The Accounts Commission report found council are paying off around £500m a year of the cost building projects funded by various forms of private finance. They have spent a further £500m over the past five years on exit packages for 13,000 staff.

The East Renfrewshire Council consultation will be open until November 28, with the final budget being decided at a meeting of the full council on February 8.

A COSLA spokesman said: “COSLA are in talks with the Scottish Government regarding the spending review and will be presenting a strong case that Local Government cannot sustain further cuts, as experiment over the last two years, without significant impact on services and jobs, and most importantly the communities we serve to protect.

"COSLA will be making it clear that to achieve the shared objectives of the Scottish Government and Local Government, which are to promote inclusive growth and tackle inequalities, then it is essential the Local Government is treated fairly in this upcoming spending review.”

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GLASGOW HERALD ON LINE 10 OCTOBER 2017
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01/11/2022

Published Barrhead News on Line

www.barrheadnews.com/news/

Council jobs and services under threat from budget black hole
2 hrs ago

By Drew Sandelands
Local Democracy Reporter

Options worth as much as £40million have been drawn up to plug a massive black hole in East Renfrewshire’s finances – and redundancies can’t be ruled out.

East Renfrewshire Council is currently expecting a £30m shortfall over the next three years and will soon hold consultation sessions with residents on possible cuts and increased charges.

Council leader Owen O’Donnell told a full council meeting the budget gap was predicted as there is set to be a flat cash settlement from the Scottish Government “at a time when inflation is at 10 per cent.”

Councillor Annette Ireland, of the SNP, quizzed the Labour member on whether any job cuts would be as a result of “natural turnover and voluntary early retirement and redundancies.”

Councillor O’Donnell replied: “We will always endeavour to make any redundancies voluntarily and we will always endeavour to minimise any redundancies.

“We have to be honest – we cannot guarantee there won’t be redundancies happening, given the scale of the savings that are being discussed. I very much doubt any opposition party would be able to give such a commitment legally to this council.”

He had earlier said the council is facing “extreme funding pressures” due to the cost-of-living crisis, high interest rates, energy costs, the war in Ukraine and the long-term impact of Covid.

There is also an expected £18m shortfall for East Renfrewshire’s health and social care partnership and £1.5m for its culture and leisure trust, the council leader added.

“The Scottish Government has made consistent choices over the last 15 years to underfund local authorities throughout Scotland and we are now facing severe cuts to local service delivery,” he added.

Councillor O’Donnell also said none of the £40m savings options are “easy” and “many will involve cutting the level of service we provide to residents and reducing the number of staff we have.”

He continued: “Given the commitment and hard work of our staff during Covid, staff reductions are particularly difficult to contemplate.

"I know the cost-of-living crisis is already worrying our lower-paid staff and I know we all want to do everything in our power to minimise service cuts and job losses but we do have to plan for the worst. I sincerely hope the situation will improve.”

02/11/2022

Posted East Tenfrewshire Council facebook page

www.facebook.com/eastrenfrewshirecouncil/

The next phase of our budget engagement outlines how much the Council is spending on services during the current year.

This will help put the level of savings required over the next 3 years into context.

Read Budget Briefing 2 here:

orlo.uk/6gIIz


You can ewad on Council website here -

Budget Briefing 2023-2026: Shaping our Future


www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/article/5420...6-Shaping-our-Future

Sent: 02 November 2022 09:55
To: CE Communications < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >
Subject: Your document Budget Briefing 2 2023 - 2026 - Leisure Trust Budget figures

Hi

I refer to your document Budget Briefing 2 2023 - 2026

On page 4 it states

'Culture and Leisure This is money we give to the East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure Trust (£5.4m) for running our leisure centres, libraries and community halls. It accounts for around half the running costs, with the remainder raised by the Trust. In addition, this budget supports the property costs (£1.3m) for the buildings used by the Trust.'

However in

EAST RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL CABINET 10 November 2022
Report by Head of Accountancy (Chief Financial Officer)
ESTIMATED REVENUE BUDGET OUT-TURN 2022/23

Agenda Item 4 page 36

Budgetary Control Statement
Period 05 / 2223 31st August 2022
Period End: 31 August 2022 Period 05 / 2223

Culture & Leisure Services

Approved Budget per o3

£8,303,900

Revised Estimate per o5

£8,265,600

Would appreciate if you can give details of difference between £8,303,900 and £6.7 million.

Your help is appreciated.

Thanks


------ Original Message ------
From: "CE Communications" < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >
Sent: Thursday, 3 Nov, 2022 At 8:46 AM
Subject: Re: Your document Budget Briefing 2 2023 - 2026 - Leisure Trust Budget figures

The difference is because the Revenue Monitoring report figures also include

£700k of support recharges from other departments such as Accountancy, HR, Legal, ICT etc. and

£900k of capital charges (an accounting entry reflecting depreciation on the use of assets).

The Trust cannot determine savings in these areas so they have been omitted from the budget briefing figures.

I hope this information is helpful.

Regards
Graeme Smith
Communications Manager

04/11/2022

Posted ERC facebook page

www.facebook.com/eastrenfrewshirecouncil/

East Renfrewshire Council
28m

Budget Briefing 3
2023
2026

With a budget gap of more than £30m expected over the next 3 years, some tough choices are going to be needed.

We've now outlined more than £40m of potential savings options in our latest budget briefing.

Take a look here to find out what savings might need to be made:

orlo.uk/eEeXZ

None of the decisions are going to be easy, so we want to hear from residents about their views on how we can best tackle the budget gap, whilst protecting services as much as we can.

Have your say here:

orlo.uk/74AWz