Cuts to pre-school autism checks and help for mental health patients seeking work are among the options Warwickshire County Council is considering to balance its books.

They are just some of the public health initiatives that could suffer as the authority seeks to either save or generate income to the tune of £95.4 million per year over the next five years in order to balance its books. 

The annual review of what can be saved gets more challenging by the year as demand for and the costs associated with services the county must provide, including special educational needs (SEN), home-to-school transport and social care, continues to rise.

An appendix titled 'budget reductions' forms part of the papers that will be considered by the county's cabinet – the Reform UK panel of councillors in charge of major service areas – on Thursday (December 11) ahead of the whole council debating and deciding the budget in February. 

The suggestions have been put forward by the county's financial officers, the paid professionals, with the elected councillors tasked with deciding what to do.

All elements of the budget involve political decisions but any savings or charge increases taken out, including council tax rises, would have to be made up by other savings or additional revenue from elsewhere.

And while the reports do stress that this year's picture is more vague than usual due to uncertainty over levels of government funding, the options presented are unlikely to be popular. 

Health cuts

The county's contribution to mental health employment support being cut by £40,000 per year and £128,000-per-year support for a community tuberculosis service being discontinued from April. 

It is proposed to "reduce funding" of £140,000 per year for the pre-school autism diagnostic service when the contract ends in 2027-28 "as this is not a public health duty", while the Healthy Child Programme pilot is earmarked to end in the same financial year, a £190,000 cut.

It is suggested that an adult weight management and physical activity service "redesign" could save £95,000 per year from 2027-28, while cuts to "consultancy, training and communications" related to domestic abuse and sexual assault in the same year would save £33,000 per annum.

Plans to "remove funding from the public health grant" for a falls service currently delivered by the NHS from 2028-29 sheds £130,000 per year from 2028-29 with another £37,000 cut from dietetics – work related to diets and their effects on health – "on activity that is not prescribed". 

Staff cuts and increased income targets

The proposals include savings on staffing, particularly in the children and families department. "Either removing posts or using alternative funding streams for posts via Department for Education grants" would save an estimated £171,000 in the next financial year and be scaled up to save a total of £889,000 per year each year after that.

A "team restructure" saves £35,000 a year in the Education Sufficiency and Capital team, while a service restructure trims £50,000 a year from Warwickshire Business Centre and Place Projects and Partnerships.

Income targets are to increase at Hatters Space, Nuneaton, Chess Centre, Nuneaton, and Lillington Youth and Community Centre, Leamington Spa.

The council is set to rely on a new government grant rather than its own resources to fund £2.47 million per year for children and family centres, while it plans to "cease providing youth grants to voluntary and community organisations" over the next three years, instead establishing a partnership "which will apply for charity funding via national organisations to fund youth services" to save £280,000 per year by 2028-29.

Also on the hitlist is a cut to "internal business support" for domestic homicide reviews (£10,000 per year), a "service redesign" of the winter gritting service which aims to save £250,000 per year "through more efficient delivery of services" and the construction of salt barns, while £200,000-a-year savings are anticipated "through investment in more efficient dimming technology and following a review of (street) lighting operations" from 2027-28.

The case is made for the sale of "surplus assets", using the money to save £158,000 per year from 2028-29 on external borrowing costs, while one of the more eye-catching ideas is to use artificial intelligence (AI) "rather than using specialist suppliers" for interpreting and translation from 2027-28, saving £133,000 per year.