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KCC jobs at risk from cuts


HUNDREDSof jobs could be lost and budgets for the elderly and children could be slashed as KCC aims to save £206m between 2015 and 2018. The county council says it is only


£7m short of delivering the target savings for 2014/15 of £81m and has outlined how it aims to con- tinue reducing its budget for the following three years.


Adult social


care could be cut by £28.8m, spe- cialist children’s services could be trimmed


by Cllr Paul Carter


£21.2m and £8m is set to be lost from the children’s pre- ventative services budget.


Staff restructuring would save


£12m and lead to the loss of 250 to 400 full-time jobs, but KCC leader Cllr Paul Carter (pictured) insists the only frontline service likely to suffer will be communitywardens, which is set to be reduced from 79 to 40 to save £1.28m. He says money would be saved


in adult social care by offering more support at home and negoti- ating new contracts with providers. In children’s services, there will be a drive to reduce the number of children in care and an emphasis on support for families at home. Kent wants to adopt a similar


model to those in Essex and Hack- ney, where frontline social workers are not only responsible for safe- guarding but are also given the power to sign off care packages and assessments, reducing bureau- cracy.


Other services subject to money- saving initiatives are libraries


(£2.8m), which could be run by charitable trusts to secure benefits such as discounts on business rates; waste and recycling (£3m) by turn- ing processing costs into an income stream; contracts and procurement (£21.1m) by renegotiating commer- cial agreements in areas such as highways, transport andwaste. KCC says the cuts are necessary because government grants up to 2018 are set to be cut by £111m and the forecasted increase in council tax, which it proposes to raise by 1.99%, is only £36.8m. With rising costs in areas such as infrastructure and school places, there will be a large shortfall. Cllr Carter, a Conservative, said


the financial challenges were “un- precedented”. He added: “Every year I say that the cumulative com- pounding effect of savings makes it more and more difficult to balance the books, but yet again we have got a budget that almost balances the books.” Labour’s finance spokesman for


KCC, Cllr Derek Smythe, said: “The coalition government has dis- criminated against local govern- ment. Local authorities as organisations are the best expres- sions of localism but they are being undermined.” Consultation on the proposed budget for 2015/16, which closes on November 28, will include ques- tions on three topics: council tax, savings over the next three years and balance of savings for 2015/16. Responses will be considered be- fore KCC sets the budget in Febru- ary 2015. To air your views, go to www.kent.gov.uk/about-the- council/have-your-say/budget- consultation.


Meat thief appears in court


BILLYWilliams (25), of Chartway Street, Sutton Valence, stole meat and other goods from a shop in Pound Road, East Peckham. He appeared at Mid Kent Magistrates’ Court, where he admitted shoplifting, as well as making off without payment and failing to surrender to police/court bail. The court heard that he left a service station on theA20Ashford Road in Bearsted without paying for fuel worth £35.79. He was given a 60-day suspended sentence and or- dered to pay £150 compensation with an £80 victim surcharge.


Gardening talk


GARDENERS can find outhowto attract birds to their gardens at a talk hosted by East Farleigh Gardening Club.


Ornithologist Ray Morris will present TheGood Garden Guide – a bird’s eye view at the Old School Hall, Lower Road, from 7.45pm on Thursday, November 13. Entry is £1 for members, £3 for non-members.


Church open days


THIS year’s open days at St Mary’s Church, Langley have raised more than £1,800 towards the upkeep of the benefice churches. Fundraising will start again on


February 14, 2015, with the first of several “soup and snowdrop” days.


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