In a letter to staff, chief executive Linzi Roberts-Egan said Waltham Forest would be looking to ‘significantly reduce’ agency staff spend and consider pausing recruitment on vacant posts, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

Waltham Forest Council could freeze new hires and make a raft of cuts after finding itself in a “challenging financial position”.

The council has so far overspent by £17million this year and is now facing what it calls a “significant budget deficit”.

It is expected to review its staffing levels, starting with those in senior positions, according to a letter by chief executive Linzi Roberts-Egan to staff.

Councils receive a fifth of their funding from central government and more than half from council tax. National funding for councils has significantly reduced since 2010, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In June, it reported that councils’ funding per person had fallen by a real-term average of 26% across the UK.

In a letter to staff, Waltham Forest chief executive Linzi Roberts-Egan said the council would be looking to “significantly reduce agency staff spend and asking managers to consider pausing recruitment on vacant posts”.

It will also stop paying for external consultants and cut “daily expenditure that isn’t essential”.

In a letter shared with council staff she says: “This is a much more challenging financial position than we hoped we would be in at this point in the year, and together we must all take immediate action to address it.

“This will mean making difficult decisions over the coming months and will require a step-change from us all to reduce costs and think about how every pound is spent.”

The council has been facing increased demand on its children’s services, adult social care and housing services.

At a cabinet meeting in June, council leader Grace Williams said “tough decisions” would be needed after the authority overspent by £18m last year.

She said: “We know if we don’t continue to take tough decisions now, then in just a year’s time we will be in a very difficult place with reserves and our ability to function.

“We have no alternative but to continue taking tough decisions.”

Council employees will be expected to put forward ideas for savings, such as “identifying more efficient ways of working, stopping discretionary spend and identifying opportunities for income generation”.

The chief executive warned “more stringent measures” would be needed if the council did not achieve “significant progress” before the year’s end.

She added: “This is something we all want to avoid, so please do everything you can within your own services and roles.”

The town hall employs more than 430 members of senior staff, up from around 100 in 2015.

Conservative councillor Catherine Saumarez attacked the high wage bills during a discussion about the potential closure of a centre for disabled adults.

At a meeting on Wednesday (11th October), she said: “We’ve spent millions on the building we are sitting in [the town hall]. The wage bill has ballooned to £30m for senior staff.”

The council says it wants to move away from a “buildings-based approach” by closing the Markhouse Centre, and has also explored cuts to various internal departments such as the communications team.

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