TiG tries its hand at balancing Gloucestershire County Council's books
I'M NO accountant. Letting me loose with millions of pounds of public money is like handing the keys to your oil rig to BP.
But if you want to illustrate the sheer scale of a problem, there's no better way than sitting someone down in front of it and saying 'You sort it'.
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Challenge: Political reporter Steve Hackwell
That's exactly what Gloucestershire County Council has done with its budget simulator as it strives to save millions of pounds over the next four years. By logging on to www.meetingthechallenge.org.uk, anyone can have a go at balancing the books.
And it is only when you are handed the metaphorical axe and told to find savings of £35.8 million in the next financial year that you realise how tricky a task it is.
We are all guilty of a certain apathy when it comes to public spending. A million here, a million there – it's hard to escape the impression of Monopoly money being thrown around.
But £35.8 million will go a long way – you could buy 3 million school textbooks. Or 940,000 wheelie bins.
When you log on, you are faced with 15 categories, from road maintenance and rubbish disposal to school transport and trading standards. For each one, you can either cut or increase the budget by 25 per cent.
Due caution has to be swept aside in a tsunami of ruthlessness. It soon becomes apparent that increasing any of the budgets is not an option.
Indeed, you get a sense of just how pitiless council bosses will have to be to make the cuts. Before long, I was hacking away at anything which didn't directly threaten public safety – trading standards, school transport and rubbish disposal took most of the hits.
Even then, I had only managed to save half of what was needed. Most of our cash, as we would expect, goes on protective measures for older people, youngsters and the most vulnerable.
Cutting a fraction of these budgets makes far greater savings than demolishing the entire funding for the county's libraries. By snipping five per cent from each one, as well as from the fire service, I eventually managed to save £37.4 million. Phew!
The question is – can you do any better?
14 Comments
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by S.C., cheltenham
Thursday, September 09 2010, 8:02PM
“Has anyone had a go at completing this GCC farce
It has to be a joke surely - no detailed information whatsoever
How much time, money and effort was wasted on developing this - another example of GCC waste
Jeez - sack the top tier and start again”
by Joe K, Barton & Tredworth
Thursday, September 09 2010, 4:51PM
“You can't manage a blog, Steve, never mind the council's budget... ;)”
by The Khazi of Kalabar, Cheltenham
Thursday, September 09 2010, 4:30PM
“Do oil rigs have keys? No.
Are TiG a bunch of 3rd rate amateur bumpkin wannabe journalists? Yes.”
by Boris, The Big Smoke
Thursday, September 09 2010, 3:07PM
“They will never entertain unitary authorities, as it will take time for the benefits to be seen. All politicians look at the short term, what they can be seen to be delivering. Start off gradually. All district and county councils have HR, Procurement, IT and other 'back office' depts. They all provide the same services to different organisations, this is highly duplicitous and could be reduced by merging these back office functions. Equally if each of the 6 districts has an identical post, why can't the county look to share 4 or 5 people.
Looking at where to cut funding is flawed and we end up with blanket cuts. Stop looking at each council individually and look at the services the county as a whole receives and how we can deliver them more effectively.”
by geraint, gloucester
Thursday, September 09 2010, 2:54PM
“Quedgeley Guy is spot on!”