Scottish authorities urged to redesign services

Scottish councils could be spending nearly 80% of their budgets on education and social work by 2026 without service redesign, according to the country’s spending watchdog. In its annual report looking at the challenges faced by councils north of the border, the Accounts Commission said that budget cuts are having a negative impact on services.
Public satisfaction levels with refuse collection, street cleaning and libraries are all falling, it said.
Graham Sharp, chair of the commission, said: “Councils are facing the major challenge of reducing costs, maintaining services for an ageing population and putting significant policy and legislative change into practice — all at a time of increasing uncertainty.
They have done a lot to manage the impact of budget reductions, but with forecast funding gaps higher than current levels of reserves for some councils the delivery of savings is now increasingly critical.
Decisive leadership, innovative thinking around service delivery, and robust planning based on community engagement is now more important than ever to ensure council services stay sustainable.”