New austerity measures force councils to make more savings

Local authorities have been urged to make more savings, including cutting pay, scrapping chief executive posts and ending councillor pensions under fresh austerity moves.

Councils in England will see their spending power reduced by 1.7% next year, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles announced, leading to warnings of more cuts to services.

Unison said libraries, day centres and youth clubs were already closing under previous cuts, care was being rationed, and young people found that careers advice had "all but disappeared".

Mr Pickles told MPs the settlement represented a "bargain" for local authorities, adding that the Government would offer support for the third year so that council taxes could be frozen.

A small number of local authorities will require larger savings to be made, but Mr Pickles said no council will face a loss of more than 8.8% of their total spending power thanks to a new efficiency support grant.

ITV News correspondent Debi Edward reports:

Mr Pickles said councils were "sitting on" a record £16 billion of reserves, adding: "Councils must keep doing their bit to tackle the inherited budget deficit because they account for a quarter of all public spending and still get through over £114 billion of taxpayers' money each year."

The 1.7% cut in spending power from next April compares with last year's comparable figure of 3.3%.

The Government published a list of "sensible savings" ideas for councils, ranging from opening a coffee shop in the local library to cancelling "glitzy" award ceremonies.

The 50 tips for town halls also include cutting spending on consultants and agency staff and on head hunters and expensive adverts which can cost thousands of pounds in national newspapers.

They should also get rid of town hall "Pravda" newspapers which keep people up to date on local activities, and there was advice ranging from closing subsidised council canteens to cancelling "away days in posh hotels and glitzy award ceremonies".

Mr Pickles argued that councils needed to find better and more efficient ways of running, with scope remaining for "sensible savings", adding: "With the exception of a handful of authorities nobody has got to grips with procurement.

"More can also be done to share offices, share services, cut fraud and provide more for less."Shadow communities and local government secretary Hilary Benn said Mr Pickles' "unfair cuts" meant the loss of libraries, sports centres, Sure Start centres and places at women's refuges, with the poorest areas hardest hit.

Heather Wakefield, Unison's head of local government, said: "Local councils are already under the Government's financial cosh and today's cuts will push many more vital services over the edge."

Council leaders in seven major English cities have written to Mr Pickles claiming deprived areas are bearing the brunt of budget cuts.

The leaders of city councils in Liverpool, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds said they had already made "diligent and innovative" savings over the past two years.