RBWM council warned not much scope for 'easy' cost savings
A new RBWM finance director has warned there is not much scope for 'easy' cost savings regarding the council’s proposed draft budgets for 2025/26.
Councillors reviewing the proposed draft budgets for the next financial year and the medium-term financial plan through to 2029/30, learned the council has undertaken the ‘easy savings’ and is down to the ‘challenging bits’.
Councillor Julian Tisi (Lib Dem, Eton and Castle) asked the council’s new interim executive director of resources Ian O’Donnell – who joined the post three weeks ago – for his ‘first impression’ of the council’s ‘cost-saving initiatives’.
“It's probably a slightly unfair question, but first impressions sometimes can be useful,” said Councillor Tisi at the RBWM corporate overview and scrutiny panel on Tuesday.
“In terms of our approach, it seems there is more scrutiny than there might have been but that's going from a low base where there wasn't enough scrutiny.
“What would your overall impression be in terms of: is there more that can be done? Is there anything we're missing in terms of our general approach?”
Mr O’Donnell said it was ‘immediately apparent’ that RBWM had ‘driven a great deal of efficiency’ in delivering adult social care and children's social care compared to other organisations.
“Indeed, in some parts of the organisation particularly the corporate centre, I think it may have gone too far and taken more capacity out of the corporate centre than perhaps it should have done to allow the organisation to function properly,” he added.
Other organisations in ‘similar’ situations are ‘still working away at delivering those savings’ while most cost-saving measures have already been implemented by the Royal Borough, added Mr O’Donnell.
“I think that is because of the pressure that's come from having to manage with a low council tax income and that has caused you as an organisation to get to these savings opportunities earlier than others,” he said.