30 million to be saved in York by 2015

Cabinet will be asked to consider City of York Council's financial strategy and performance reports for 2011/2012 today (Tuesday 17th July 2012.)

The reports detail an underspend of £349,000 within the Council's overall budget in the last financial year, achieved through prudent financial management, against an already difficult background of having to achieve some £21 million of savings in 2011/12.

The Council has met these budget challenges despite pressures in a number of areas, particularly in dealing with an increased demand on priority services such as adult care and children's services.

Through constant monitoring of the budget, and taking action where needed, the Council has maintained its financial position and has earmarked the underspend specifically to manage an expected increase in financial pressures on these services in the coming year.

Cllr Julie Gunnell, Cabinet member for corporate services at City of York Council comments:

"I'm delighted to say we have achieved our financial targets for the past financial year, delivering the required savings and generating an underspend on the overall budget.

"We set a balanced and deliverable two-year budget for 2012-2014, in order to achieve necessary savings over the next two financial years, and protect our services against the increasing financial pressures we know we will face. We are already looking at the financial year 2014/15 and planning for the savings we know will need to be made then."

Ian Floyd, Director of Customer & Business Support Services:

"The budget for the last financial year presented possibly the most difficult financial challenge for the Council in recent years, and through effective financial monitoring, and actions being taken across all areas, the Council has managed within its budget.

"There will be significant challenges in the future however, and we know that in the next three years we will need to deliver over £30 million of savings. The budget agreed in February of this year set out plans to deliver some £20 million of these over the next two years, and in 2014/15 we are looking at in excess of a further £10 million.  

"The full impact of the next spending review is not yet known, but it will inevitably bring with it significant challenges. We continually revise our financial strategy in order to plan for and to meet these challenges, whilst supporting Council priorities."