COUNCIL chiefs are bracing themselves for the loss of more than 2,000 jobs.

Stewart Young, the leader of Cumbria County Council, made the comment ahead of tomorrow’s Budget, where Chancellor George Osborne is expected to announce more austerity measures.

Last month it was revealed the authority would have to make a projected £55m-worth of cuts to the council’s budget by 2019.

Officials previously calculated the council would have to find a further £33m of savings by the 2018/19 financial year.


It had already identified or delivered spending cuts of £178m. Now they have to revise their calculations in the face of a further year of austerity, which experts say will add £22m to the required cuts.

The prediction for job losses to come had been 1,800 positions. Mr Young though said it was now likely there would be “hundreds” more as a result of the extra year of austerity.

Mr Young said: “This is the first Budget since the General Election and we now have a Government run by a single majority party so they are no longer constrained.”

“For us at the moment it is difficult to see how we are going to make the level of savings we are going to be faced with,” he added.

Asked about further staff cuts he said: “The latest figure was 1,800 (job losses) and that was before this extra year came in so there will inevitably be more job losses.”

Full details though have not been investigated.

The main reason for this cut is that the main source of finance for councils – the revenue support grant, which is allocated by central Government – is set to be phased out by 2019. This will leave authorities dependant on council tax and business rates for funding.

Mr Young said that in parts of the UK with high numbers of homes being built the resulting increase in council tax can make up for the loss of grant funds.

This is not the case in Cumbria though, and to meet the shortfall council tax would have to be put up by 27 per cent to achieve this. Such an increase would need to be put to a public referendum.

“That’s a bit of a no brainer,” he commented.

Mr Young and Patricia Bell, the authority’s deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, both added that frontline council services were likely to be affected.

Mrs Bell said: “The council will be open for business in the future but it will not look the same.”

She said efforts to make cuts so far had included reforms to management and a review of property, using the example that the council has been based in 22 buildings around Carlisle but that will be cut to two by the end of next year, one of which will be a new headquarters on Botchergate.

The figure of £55m has been based on the assumption that central Government will provide councils with money to provide extra services under the new Care Act.

“If we don’t get that money from Government it won’t be £55m it will be at least £8m more.”

She wanted to emphasise the scale of the cuts.

“To make up that £55m we would have to close the libraries 11 times or the fire service twice – both of which we would never do.

“When I say it like that it illustrates how hard it is going to be.”

She also said the council would make use of consultants to make savings and both her and Mr Young said there was a possibility the authority could become a “statutory only” council, providing just the services it is legally required to.

Mr Young reiterated his calls for a unitary authority in Cumbria pointing out cuts might have less impact without issues such as the duplication of roles throughout the county’s seven authorities.