Herefordshire Council is to freeze council tax, cut management costs and slash red tape but safeguard most frontline services – despite unprecedented cuts to the government financial settlement for local authorities. The cabinet approved this week (20 January 2011) a new financial strategy designed to save £10.3 million in the coming financial year and £5.8 million in the following year. It means 250 jobs, including over 30 management posts, will go across the council over the next two years, reflecting the massive reduction in the public sector workforce seen across the UK. The council will also save money by sharing several corporate functions with the primary care trust and the county hospital.

The council aims to protect the services depended on by the most vulnerable in the community and the budget includes an extra £3.5 million for adult social care, including £2.4 million transferred from NHS Herefordshire.

The cut in government funding affects concessionary bus fares but the cabinet agreed to use some of its financial reserves to retain free travel for bus pass holders, although free travel will no longer be available during the weekday morning commuter period before 9.30am. Carers travelling with disabled people will be able to continue to travel for free during the free period. The changes are expected to come into operation in March this year. However, government’s cutting of the bus operators’ subsidy by 20 per cent means the council will need to work hard to protect services to rural and remote areas, and aims to consult communities over the spring and summer.

The budget also means that unlike many other areas of the country, Herefordshire will hold on to its existing libraries but the mobile library service is undergoing a review. Leader of the council Roger Phillips said: “Our strategy is to cut the cost of services, rather than the services themselves. We have an unprecedented level of government cuts that we have to absorb but we are doing everything we can to minimise the impact on those front line services that are valued across the county.

“Herefordshire Council has been planning its response to reduced government funding for some time and is already well advanced in redesigning its structure and services. The council will be a smaller but more efficient organisation in two years time, whilst retaining its focus on ensuring that essential services are delivered for the people of Herefordshire”.