East Renfrewshire Council calls for government funding to meet £8.5m shortfall

Tony Buchanan said the local authority will continue to work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) to lobby both the Scottish and UK governments for more money.

Almost £4.5m has already been allocated to the council by the Scottish Government but the cost of responding to the pandemic, and a drop in income due to lockdown restrictions, mean a shortfall of £8.55m has been forecast by the end of the financial year.

Speaking at a digital meeting of the full council, Mr Buchanan said: “Our position is similar to all councils and we’re working on a daily, almost hourly basis, to update any figures that we have.

“Reserves and savings measures alone would be insufficient to address the sizeable gap for the council.

“Therefore, we will continue via COSLA, as well as our own mechanisms, to lobby the Scottish and the UK Government for additional grant funding and borrowing powers.

“I would add those borrowing papers need to extend not just for councils but for the Scottish Government, in order to try and alleviate some of the pressures that we know both us, as local government, and the public sector in general are likely to face.

“Due to the level of uncertainty nationally, it is recommended that we set a single year budget for 2021/22, rather than adopt a three-year approach as originally planned.”

Councillors agreed to use part of an extra £1.875m in grant money from the Scottish Government, which was confirmed in late February after the government set its budget, to cover £1.28m of unallocated savings.

They also ruled all council departments should be instructed to stop all non-essential spending with immediate effect.

Council directors will work over the summer on proposals to deal with the anticipated shortfall.