The closure of children’s clubs, removal of primary PE teachers and less access to school buildings after hours are being considered as Perth and Kinross Council seeks to meet the financial “tsunami” set to engulf public finances.
In all 137 full-time posts are in danger as the authority seeks to save almost £10 million in the next three years and plug a £34 million funding gap by 2014.
The council will consider a full range of options at a special meeting next week although next month’s Scottish Government response to the Comprehensive Spending Review could shift the goalposts again.
Initial proposals are set out in a paper prepared by chief executive Bernadette Malone and head of finance John Symon. It sets out a £4,775,000 saving next year, to be followed by £3,252,000 and £1,367,000 in subsequent years.
Measures to meet much of the cost have already been agreed. These include a council-wide reduction in management costs, changes in nursery staffing and the amalgamation of community warden services.
All could result in job losses, although the council stresses it will try to achieve these through natural wastage and voluntary retirement.
In the first six months of the year 133 posts were also held vacant, with the local authority currently employing 6200 full-time equivalent staff.
Over 1000 of the council’s employees are aged 57 and will be eligible for their pensions by 2013/14. Voluntary severance packages are being offered to some likely to be affected.
Other areas are now being examined which could be agreed at next Wednesday’s meeting. They include the potential loss of 14 primary school expressive arts and PE teachers and the closure of loss-making Kids Clubs and Playstart creches, which could save £240,000 next year.
The mobile creche would be removed and the Christmas creche could come under threat.
It is expected that up to 10 of the council’s 23 Kids Clubs could close. Exact attendance figures were not available yesterday but it is understood some of these are extremely poorly attended.
IT network contracts could be renegotiated and there could be restricted community access to schools outwith regular school hours to save on janitorial costs hitting those who use halls for indoor football or groups like Guides and Scouts.
Council leader Ian Miller said, “We are certain these measures will result in significantly less staff being affected than we originally anticipated. It will be a combination of things that will bring the number down, such as natural wastage through staff turnover, the accepting of voluntary severance and also people agreeing to job share.
“However, the situation is serious and the cuts may still have major repercussions on the delivery of services within our council area.”
The paper states, “It is important to note that this represents only a first step towards meeting the likely financial challenges facing Perth and Kinross Council and that further savings options contained within the three-year provisional budgets will require to be considered at the special council budget meeting in February 2011.
“A further report on the likely scale of the total savings required will be brought to the council following the announcement by the Scottish Government of the local government finance settlement.”