BOSSES at Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) are hoping to save more than £250,000 by cutting, deleting and restructuring jobs across the authority.

Budget plans revealed last month show the council wants to save £4.5 million next year and this means a number of posts might be affected as part of these saving plans.

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This involves:

  • Cutting a job in the gardening team (£20,000 saving)
  • Deleting a vacant post in the planning department (£47,000 saving)
  • Not filling a vacant role in business intelligence (£68,000)
  • Not filling three vacancies in senior positions (£77,000 saving next year, £23,000 in 2021/2022).
  • Not filling a corporate procurement role when a member of the team retires in March (£55,000 saving)
  • Re-structuring of a marketing post in the parks and countryside team (£10,000 saving)

Bracknell News:

These job changes come after the News revealed a spending freeze had been introduced a the council in November 2019 which involved ‘carefully looking at’ job vacancies to see if filling them could be delayed in order to save cash.

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Stuart McKellar, Director of Finance at BFC, said: “Like all other local authorities, we are having to deal with an increased demand for services which isn’t matched by additional funding.

“A large portion of our expenditure is on staffing, meaning that when we need to make savings, this has to be an area for consideration.

“This is not a new approach for us, although the level of staff reductions in recent years in Bracknell Forest has been lower than in most other similar organisations.”

Bracknell News:

The council needs to find another £2.6 million to balance its budget for the upcoming year as “unprecedented” spending pressures of more than £6 million in social care are predicted in the twelve months from April.

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Saving and spending plans are outlined as part of BFC’s budget plans for 2020/2021, which residents can comment on here.

Council bosses will vote on the final spending proposals at a meeting in late February.