Liverpool City Council’s three-year budget could force statutory services to slash spending by a quarter as part of £156m savings plans.
Under a list of proposals drawn up by city mayor Joe Anderson, mandatory services would be forced to find 25% savings while discretionary services endure a 50% spending cut.
Anderson, said the latest round of cuts would ‘result in some significant changes to services that people hold dear; but we need to start making those decisions now as the money simply isn’t there to fund them in the future’.
Liverpool City Council will work with the community and voluntary sector to find new ways to deliver services if it goes ahead with cuts of £42m to adult social care and £16m to children’s services.
Other proposals include cutting spending on libraries by £500,000 and closing two leisure centres.
Liverpool has seen central funding cut by £173m over the last three years, amounting to a 56% reduction since 2011.
Anderson said he wanted to set a longer-term budget to allow the council to plan for the next three years ‘to stop this annual cycle of cuts and to bring stability and some certainty to the people who use our services and to our staff’.
‘The proposals have been developed so that we can protect the most vulnerable adults and children in our communities. We are having to prioritise our priorities,’ he added.
Cabinet members will discuss the plans this month before final proposals are put to the council on March 5.
