Government’s 10-point plan to protect services during council cuts

The government is today due to publish a 10-point plan for councils to help them cut spending while protecting frontline services.

The new system of council budgeting, called Total Place, comes as a BBC survey found that councils estimated one in 10 of the workforce would need to be shed in the next three to five years – about 25,000 jobs.

The Guardian has reported that councils could be considering plans to cut up to 170,000 public sector jobs, or one-tenth of their wage bill, as local authorities struggle with spending cuts of 15% over the next three years.

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The Total Place checklist advises councils to consider sharing offices to cut down on the number of buildings they run.

Communities secretary John Denham said the new budgeting process could save up to £20bn from the cost of local services by removing duplication and improving efficiency across all public services spending, not just local authority bills.