Budget clean-sweep: this is only the start

STREET-cleaning teams and the youth service will see dramatic changes as Oldham Council’s new redundancy broom sweeps in.

The local authority has announced areas where staff potentially face the axe, as council chiefs attempt to slash around £24million from their budget.

The proposals for the 2012/13 budget revealed:

::A total of 18 full-time posts from the council’s grounds maintenance staff could face the axe, as £300,000 worth of savings are attempted.

::Around 30 members of financial services could go as “redesign” plans take shape.

::The Integrated Youth Service will be restructured to a more “neighbourhood” level — meaning a reduction of 16 full-time jobs.

The latest proposals to balance the £235million budget were revealed last night as Cabinet members attempt to shave around 10 per cent off their previous year’s budget.

Council leader Jim McMahon warned the financial situation is going to get harder as government cuts deepen. He said: “The further you go into a budget settlement the harder it gets to meet the deficit that has been laid out and this year was challenging.

“Next year will be tougher - and the year after that will be harder still. So the best we can do is make the best of a very bad budget settlement.”

The Chronicle revealed in September how 400 jobs are set to be axed and the authority is reviewing changes to employee terms and conditions, which it claims could save around £1.5million a year, in an attempt to reduce the number of compulsory redundancies.

Estimations suggest the council will have saved £130million from 2009 to 2015.

The council has faced the task of finding savings of £40million to balance the budget in the current financial year.