Budget cuts Lewisham: Services will be affected

Lewisham Council says it needs to make £40 million in cuts over the next three years.

This week it published a second round of cuts proposals worth £15.1 million, added to the more than £26 million set out in November.

It brings the total cuts planned for next year to £28 million.

See related: Lewisham Council publishes draft budget cuts

Sustainable development committee discusses Lewisham cuts​

Healthier communities select committee on Lewisham cuts​

The new proposals have less than a month for consultation and scrutiny before final decisions are made in February.

Some cuts in the second round are more clear than others when it comes to job losses – in some instances redundancies will be guaranteed if the proposals are approved, and in others people could lose their jobs if savings are not achieved via other routes.

See related: Next round of Lewisham cuts to be 'significant' for staff

Services where people will be made redundant if plans are approved include the housing needs service (10 to 15), the youth offending service, environmental services, and business support for education.

Jobs are also at risk in legal, governance, and election services, with plans to bring teams together, and also in library services.

Many of the draft proposals focus on service reviews, restructures, making teams more “efficient”, cheaper contracts and better management of contracts, and a move from agency use to in-house workers.

The latest proposals include a cut of £567,000 in 2022/23 to environmental services as part of a whole service review. This is added to the £330,000 announced last year.

The council acknowledges that the cuts will involve job losses, fewer street cleans and more complaints from residents.

According to the plans, there will only be three mobile teams to cover the whole borough.

But it plans to make £100,000 next year by clamping down on offences such as illegal dumping, littering, dog fouling, and urinating in the street.

The council plans to make £240,000 over the next two years by introducing emissions-based charging for short stay parking.

This will be added to the banded charges for residents and business parking permits based on a vehicle’s CO2 emissions, which have already been introduced in the borough.

Elsewhere in the service the council is planning to make £625,000 in the next two years by clamping down on road safety enforcement.

It says that despite introducing a number of measures to improve road safety, such as banned turns and one way streets, the “vast majority of these are not regularly enforced”.

Lewisham plans to save £250,000 by reviewing its special educational needs transport.

The council is hoping a review of adult social care will save more than £4 million – the first round included a cut of £3 million through better demand management in ASC.

Lewisham also plans to cut £1 million by reviewing some of the projects funded by the Better Care Fund.

The funds are used to commission and support services across acute hospital services, community and mental health services, as well as social care and voluntary and community sector provision.

“Although it is intended that the review will seek to identify efficiencies, if these cannot be found, it is possible that some services may need to be reduced or stopped,” according to the council.

The council also plans to cut the adult learning service by nearly £100,000 – staff may lose their jobs. Lewisham says the impact on learners would be “minimal”.

The council stands to benefit financially from the public sector pay freeze for all except those earning below £24,000.

“In light of the announcement, it is intended that a further £1 million cut is taken from [staffing] budgets,” according to the council.

Lewisham is also proposing a quarter of a million pounds cut to its child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) provision and a cut of up to half a million pounds through a library service review.

The proposals are set to go to scrutiny next week.

Lewisham Mayor Damien Egan and Cllr Amanda De Ryk, cabinet member for finance and resources, said services for residents will be affected by the cuts.

Mayor Egan said: “The proposals include a number of strategic reviews, to help us identify cuts and work more efficiently.

“However, we’re running out of options and will need to make decisions that impact the services we provide.

“None of us want to do that, but where we have to we will careful consider measures to mitigate the impact on the users of those services.”

Cllr DeRyk added: “Council budgets are under the most intense pressure. Despite careful financial management, years of underfunding from central Government mean we’re running out of ways to find the savings being demanded of us.

“With so much uncertainty around long term funding, we are looking right across the council to make decisions that provide sustainable, long term savings.

“We are challenging ourselves to make our services more efficient, as well as making difficult decisions where we are forced to.

“Protecting frontline services and tackling inequalities will always be our priority.

“However, we must be clear that the financial situation we have been forced into will affect the services we provide on behalf of our residents.

“We don’t think that’s fair, and we will continue to make Lewisham’s voice heard, and send a clear signal to the Government that enough is enough – we urgently need a review of funding for local authorities.”