Elected members in Falkirk are being asked to consider up to £11m worth of budget saving proposals across all services in considering their future financial options.

The proposals, put forward by officials, will be the focus of a wide ranging engagement with stakeholders throughout October and November with a further report brought to elected members in December 2016. This report will then form the basis of the final options prior to setting the Council’s budget in February 2017 for the next financial year.

Currently Falkirk Council has an estimated £20m budget gap for the 2017/18 financial year prompting the suggested options to be put forward for consideration to date.

A series of meetings has been planned with employees during October regarding the budget proposals put forward.

The budgets provided by Falkirk Council for the new Integration Joint Board for Health and Social Care as well as Falkirk Community Trust are also being examined as part of the budget process.

Councillor Craig Martin, Leader of Falkirk Council said: “We have asked for comprehensive budget options to be brought forward at this stage to allow us to get the views of various groups and interested parties. Their responses will help us make informed decisions and help us to prioritise by need.

“This funding gap has been largely caused by the anticipated further loss of Scottish Government grant at the same level as 2016/17.

“We stress that no decisions have been taken but we know that there are some very tough choices ahead for us to make and residents should be prepared.

“All of these proposals have to be looked at carefully and a full assessment of the impact these may cause will be undertaken.

“We have been part of a cross party formal working group to look at all the budget options over a number of months.

“Massive savings have already been made including reducing our workforce by 7% in the past two years but the financial pressures over the past decade have still seen a budget gap of more than £108m arise. This means there are very few easy savings options left.”

More savings will be identified in the coming months in addition to those already put forward.

Full details are available on our budget webpages.