Harborough district councillor likens county council's £60m savings plan to ‘payday loan’
A savings plan by Leicestershire County Council leaders has been likened to a ‘payday loan’ by a Harborough district councillor, with other councillors accusing leaders of making a ‘major gamble’ with the taxpayers’ finances.
Leicestershire County Council’s scrutiny commission met on May 11 to discuss findings over proposed savings identified by consultants Newton and council officers in order to try to save £60m to tackle the council’s £85m black hole by 2030.
The council’s Reform UK cabinet, who launched the spending review, called it ‘groundbreaking’ after announcing the findings. However, opposition councillors have accused them of ‘gambling’ with taxpayers’ money.
During the meeting, councillors raised concerns about how local government reorganisation (LGR) may affect the savings plan and the risks surrounding the proposals.
Conservative councillor Phil King, who represents the Gartree division in the Harborough district, said during the meeting that the proposals looked ‘high risk’.
He said: “It’s like if someone was taking out a payday loan. But what we are doing is using the taxpayer as the credit card.
“Instead of going to the supermarket and it being ‘Buy now, pay later’, this has ‘Buy Now, Save Later’ stamped all over it.
“And it’s really concerning because of local government reorganisation.”
Cllr King said the council ‘didn’t know’ what would happen with LGR and that new authorities could “do things differently”.
Reform leader Dan Harrison said that the council “could do things overnight” and that there was “no money at risk”.
He added: “It’s a falseness saying we’re risking taxpayers’ money. We’re not.”
Cllr Craig Smith (Con) also told the committee that the savings plans were a ‘massive gamble’ for Reform leaders.
It comes after documents revealed 13 areas of opportunity to save and make money, resulting in a projected saving of £27.2m over the next four years until 2030, which council finance officers say they are confident they can reach with the savings having the potential to stretch between £32m and £60m.
However, Reform bosses will need to spend up to £28.2 million by 2030 to achieve the savings, with a massive £22.3 million of this investment earmarked for ‘strategic partner delivery costs’, including Newton.
Despite the accusations, Reform councillors accused the Conservatives of ‘talking down’ the plans and saying ‘falsities’.
Cllr Harrison accused opposition councillors of ‘damaging’ the council. He added: “We inherited £85m debt.
“We’ve come in with an answer of how to find that money, through efficiency. We’ve always got to look at ourselves.”
One of the proposals put forward by Newton could lead the council to intervene in the care home market and potentially develop care homes to create up to 400 council-funded beds.
One of the biggest areas of savings focuses on expanding the capacity of the council’s Homecare Assessment and Reablement Team (HART), which aims to help residents increase their independence after a crisis or hospital stay, which in turn reduces their reliance on long-term, ongoing commissioned care, potentially saving the council £4.38m by 2030.
Other areas include an overhaul of internal operations, including reducing agency staff spend and deploying AI for casework and streamlined form completion, as well as working with families earlier to prevent safeguarding escalations, and supporting children in care to live in family-based environments rather than expensive residential care.