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Cheshire East Council plans to cut councillors’ travel allowances, slash training budgets and subscriptions, and restructure staffing to make much-needed savings, writes Ethan Davies.

The authority is set to pass a new budget in February for the 2021/22 municipal year, which legally must be balanced between expenditure and income.

As part of the process, CEC’s corporate overview and scrutiny committee met to examine the plans — and learned where savings are proposed to be found in the authority’s corporate services department.

Some £550,000 is hoped to be saved through “staff restructures and efficiencies”, according to Jane Burns, who heads up directorate.

She added: “This is really to complete the stalled restructures from three years ago.

“The world has moved on and there are other ways of doing things.

“There are a number of areas that have not been able to complete their restructures.

“That consultation with trade unions started last year but was stopped with Covid.

“Hopefully, in the next couple of months we will be able to unlock those stalled restructures.”

CEC’s corporate services team is responsible for council working in areas like finance, democracy, and customer services.

Other savings proposed for the department include a review of staff training budgets, memberships, and subscription to the tune of £130,000.

There will be a review of staff terms and conditions to save £500,000.

And a cut in councillors’ travel allowances should save up to £30,000.

These measures are supported by other initiatives, and come alongside a bid to recoup £290,000 of money owed to the council via ‘improved debt recovery’, although around £30 million is owed to CEC in total.

The feedback from the scrutiny committees will be discussed by cabinet in February.

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3 Comments

  1. They must already be making a huge saving from not having all of the schmoozy fat cat lunches and dinners the council pay for. They ought to look at job roles i.e. do we need a mayor? What exactly do they do?

  2. Christine Wardle says:

    Why do we pay fot their membership costs????and membership of what? Obscene.

  3. Isnt there 30 million plus in unspent money from sale of land? What’s happening to that?

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