Perth and Kinross Council budget: job cuts, council tax freeze and shorter school days proposed

More than 70 job losses over the next three years and shorter secondary school days are just some proposals amid a raft of service cuts recommended by senior officers as Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) faces “increasing demands and financial pressures”.

Councillors will meet on Wednesday, February 28, to set the 2024/25 revenue and capital budgets, and provisional budgets for 2025/26 and 2026/27.

Chief executive Thomas Glen told residents the local authority faces “major challenges in meeting the demands on council services from the resources available”.

Officers this week published their detailed budget options to achieve a balanced budget.

The council’s political groups will spend the next week drawing up their own proposals and tweaks before debating them next Wednesday in the council chambers.

Officers recommended councillors accept the Scottish Government’s compensation offer and freeze council tax in 2024/25.

Last year PKC set an indicative council tax increase of 3.9 per cent for 2024/25.

The report going before councillors states the £4.7 million of Scottish Government funding to support the council tax freeze is £703,000 greater than the indicative 3.9 per cent increase.

One radical cost-cutting proposal would see secondary school days shortened.

A proposed common 33-lesson week – where lessons are 50 minutes long – in all PKC secondary schools would result in “either two or three days which were shorter than others” with “potential savings to be achieved in terms of staffing of a 50-minute period model”. Currently lessons vary in length from 40 to 55 minutes.

Another proposal would see the cost of a school meal increase by 36 per cent in 2024/25.

A primary school meal – for P6 and P7 pupils – would rise from £2.15 to £2.90 and from £2.30 to £3.15 for secondary pupils.

Other proposals include:

– garden waste permits going up from £40 to £45 in 2025/26;

– reduction in local bus services;

– removal of five jobs from Trading Standards, Food Safety and Environmental Health;

– reduction in housing and homeless support, resulting in job losses;

– cuts to road maintenance and traffic and road safety budgets, resulting in job losses;

– removal of school crossing patrollers;

– 12 job losses through the removal of street cleansing by barrow operators;

– removal of primary school swimming lessons;

– fly-tipping fines increasing from £200 to £500;

– reintroducing football pitch charges, which were free this year;

– close loss-making breakfast clubs;

– cuts to instrumental music instruction;

– cuts to the customer service centre;

– workforce reduction of around 10 jobs across the whole of Strategy, People and Performance;

– five per cent increase on out-of-school club charges from July 1, 2024;

– four per cent increase on bereavement services, regulatory services, pitches and park events, road network commercial charges;

– more ‘no-mow’ areas and reduction in verge cutting;

– reduction in winter maintenance on roads and footpaths;

– full removal of the council’s £220,000 events budget in 2025/26;

– full removal of budget for city and town centre management initiatives;

– stopping activity to promote Perth and Kinross as a destination and subsidising venues for business conferences and events.

PKC’s chief executive Thomas Glen said: “Like all councils in Scotland we are facing major challenges in meeting the demands on council services from the resources available to us. The proposals from officers are not put forward lightly.

“The final decision on which cuts to accept and which to reject, or how else the budget should be balanced, will be made by councillors next week.

“But, whatever decisions are made our teams remain committed to continuing to work to deliver on our vision of a Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality.”

More than 750 people responded to the annual budget consultation survey.

The cost of living and education topped the list of areas respondents wanted prioritised most.

The council has also been undergoing a transformation and change programme to “better manage demand and focus resources on people and communities where data shows there is the greatest need”.

Mr Glen added: “Over £1.5m of savings are being delivered in this way this year, including through a reduction in our most senior leadership roles.

“We’re also on track to deliver another £5m of savings over the next two years by expanding our review of leadership roles and by transforming how we manage contracts and make best use of our buying power across the organisation.”

Acknowledging the raft of job cuts proposed, he said: “The difficult decisions we are presented with place pressure on our greatest asset, our workforce.

“We can never lose sight of the impact that many of these proposals, if accepted, will have on the number of people we have available to support individuals, families and communities, but we will continue to work with our teams and trade union colleagues to minimise the impact on our staff and identify opportunities to redeploy and retrain colleagues into other roles wherever possible.”

SNP councillor Eric Drysdale

Deputy council leader Eric Drysdale said the SNP administration will work to “deliver the very best package we can for the people of Perth and Kinross”.

The Perth City Centre councillor said: “Thankfully, on Wednesday evening, the deputy first minister has been able to identify a little more funding that can be provided to councils, and councillors are therefore now adjusting their proposals accordingly.

“Since forming the political administration of PKC in 2022, SNP council leader Grant Laing has held firmly to the principles of trying – wherever possible – to resolutely lead work with other political groups who wish to work with us to deliver the very best package we can for the people of Perth and Kinross in what are still extremely challenging financial circumstances.

“As ever, the SNP administration remains happy to consider including fully funded proposals from other groups which meet with the council’s unanimously approved priorities, for the benefit of the people we serve.”