Extra £20m for care in Staffordshire as council tax rises

Budget plans by Staffordshire County Council were granted final approval at a meeting of the full council.

The authority needs to make savings of £229m over the next five years, but is looking to invest £289m in boosting other services.

It will see the additional £20m spent on helping vulnerable adults and children in the coming year.

However, council tax will increase by 1.95 per cent from April. It will be the equivalent to an extra 39p a week for Band D homes. This will now be £1,047.28.

The council says savings this year will come through efficiencies and there will be no mass job cuts.

Although the council is already planning to close 43 children centres across Staffordshire, saving £3m with the loss of four jobs. The council is also looking at some of the libraries being taken over volunteers.

The budget put forward by the Conservative authority was yesterday voted in with 34 in favour and 23 abstaining.

No-one voted against the plans.

Councillor Ian Parry, deputy leader and finance chief, said providing support for the frail, the elderly, the disabled and for children in care is the at the very heart of the spending.

He said: "The care of the most vulnerable in our community has to be our priority, but we also want to deliver a good, balanced budget which is which is fair as possible to everyone and are confident the spending plans agreed today will allow us to achieve this.

"This county has a successful economy and this budget is designed to support it. I think in the teeth of very, difficult circumstances we have got a plan that is strong and robust."

He added that the council tax rise will still mean it is the third cheapest in the country.

Council leader Philip Atkins told the meeting: "We have to not rely on the state now as much as people in the past. We have a good record of doing more with the pot of money we have."

There were initially 329 school crossing patrols across the county under threat in a bid to save £250,000 but bosses decided to axe the plans after feedback from parents and schools.

However, the number of roads that are gritted face being reduced to save £400,000. Disabled drivers will also face paying for blue parking badges.

Meanwhile, car parking charges will be introduced in country parks for the first time to generate £20,000.

The council is also planning to cut £1.3m over three years from its libraries budget by allowing volunteers to take on 23 of the 43 sites it currently operates. Chiefs say none will close.

Council-run youth centres across Staffordshire have already closed, with 180 staff made redundant. The move came despite 16,000 objections.

Staffordshire County Council officially stopped running more than 30 clubs across the county from the start of the year after bosses said they were not being used.