SAVINGS will be made in the mobile library service and contracts with voluntary organisations as part of a council’s internal efficiency review.
Staffordshire County Council’s ruling Reform UK group announced the examination of the authority’s finances after taking control in the May elections.
This review has now resulted in seven individual efficiency proposals, which will result in a £2.67million in savings next year. The county council had an overall net revenue budget of £734million in 2025-26.
Changes to the council’s mobile library service are set to save £130,000, while a rethink of contractual expenditure with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector will save a further £150,000, the authority said.
Changes related to concessionary fares will save £1million in 2026-27, falling to £500,000 in subsequent years – and there will also be a one-off reduction of £500,000 due to waste-to-recycling increased revenue being brought forward.
Other savings including a review of pooled buildings budgets (£750,000), increased income from enterprise centres due to greater capacity (£100,000), and a review of community safety contracts (£42,000).
Further efficiencies and savings are set to be revealed as part of the council’s medium term financial strategy, due to be published in early January.
Cllr Chris Large, cabinet member for finance and resources, said:
“We are committed to delivering maximum value for money for Staffordshire taxpayers and making sure the funding we have stretch as far as possible to deliver the biggest benefit to the county.
“Our internal efficiency review identified savings which can be carried forward year on year.
“We are now finalising our full financial position including full savings, efficiencies and spending priorities and will publish our plans early in the New Year.”
Following the local elections in May, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party would look to make major savings at the county council, specifically mentioning climate change policy and DEI as potential targets.
The party also set up a “DOGE” unit to find examples of waste at the authorities under its control, although it has yet to visit Staffordshire.
Council leaders were quizzed on the efficiency review during October’s meeting of the corporate overview and scrutiny committee.
Conservative opposition leader Cllr Philip White asked whether the outcomes of the review would be brought to the committee for scrutiny, but Cllr Large said there were no plans to do this, and that the results would be fed into cabinet decision making, strategic planning or the MTFS.
Cllr White suggested at the time that this meant the review was simply “business as usual”.
So after all the fanfare, Reform UK reckons it can save 0.36% of the total budget. Bravo – what an exceptional failure. And of course, it’s not even 0.36% on an ongoing basis as £0.5m is timing difference with income brought forward and a £1m saving being reduced to £0.5m in subsequent years so future years’ savings will be £1.5m, or 0.2% of the budget. We also mustn’t forget the extra costs that Reform UK is introducing in the form of political assistants as they don’t know what they’re doing… Could it be that the previous Conservative administration was actually doing a pretty decent job running the council efficiently and didn’t think the minuscule savings available from the value-added services like the mobile library, engaging with the voluntary sector or reducing community safety spending were worth pursuing?