Nottingham City Council could cut the number of customer service staff it employs as parts of plans to make savings.
As part of a range of measures, the council is proposing to close five of its nine children’s centres, reduce the number of youth workers and potentially close three libraries in Basford, Lenton/Radford and Aspley.
Alongside these plans, it also has a transformation programme to ensure the culture of the organisation is changed, which includes customer services.
The council says “effective digital channels” will be a key element of the programme, providing 24/7 access to council services when people need them.
This will save the authority £8.5m over the next four years.
Richard Grice, an interim transformation lead at the city council, told councillors on Wednesday, March 6, the different plans are being drawn up in order to make significant savings over the next four years.
Mr Grice said: “It always makes people nervous. People always think you will go to a telephone loop or an email link where I can’t get the service I need. That won’t be what happens here.
“The savings are a mix of things – broadly a reduction in the number of posts because we have a lot of people doing a lot of things – and we also have a lot of vacancies in the organisation.
“We will use vacancies first before we get to actual jobs that people are in.”
He said there will also be less reliance on employing external consultants as staff will be trained to take on these duties in the future.
Cllr Adele Williams (Lab), who is overlooking parts of the transformation plan at the council, also spoke to councillors at the overview and scrutiny meeting.
She said it is important to make the online channels at the council work “really well,” but to engage with customers to understand what experiences work best for them as not everyone has access to the internet.
She said: “As you will be aware our key focus in the transformation programme is to respond to the challenge. We know we are under incredible strained financial circumstances as a council.
“Funding to local government has diminished and all councils are facing similar challenges – an environment where austerity creates additional needs and pressures.
“Instead of doing things the way we have always done them, we need new ideas to transform the way we do things.”
Talking about customer services, she said: “By changing that approach, we are reducing the admin load and will be able to make some savings.
“It is not just posts that are doing admin but admin in posts so overtime we would see a reduction in posts, but we are talking regularly to the trade unions about that and to avoid compulsory redundancies.”
Cllr Corall Jenkins (Lab), representing the St Ann’s ward, said more detail on the proposed plans were needed.
This was also echoed by Cllr Jane Lakey (Lab), who represents Bulwell.
Cllr Jenkins said: “There are huge implications, not just in the way we do things but the impact on staff as well. How do you intend to arrive at better services and save money?”
Other plans in the transformation programme includes procurement – achieving better value for money on the contracts the council has with providers.
The council has a list of around 3,500 contracts. It will look at improving these contracts and re-negotiate terms.
The council is currently being monitored by Government following the demise of council compan Robin Hood Energy, which went bust and will cost taxpayers an anticipated £38m.
The council must create a plan to make £38m of savings over the next four years and prove it can be ‘financially resilient.’
If it fails to do so then government commissioners could be called in to run the authority in the future.
