The scale of potential cuts to benefits and support services that Liverpool Council will need to make have been laid bare.
The city has to find ways to plug a £73m funding shortfall for the new financial year, with warnings of service cuts and job losses on the horizon. A document outlining where savings could be made was published by the local authority last month.
Among the possibilities is a reduction in discretionary welfare support schemes, such as its benefits maximisation service and Liverpool Citizens Support Scheme. As it launched a consultation on the future of the projects, further details have been released on how the council intends to trim them back.
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The local authority said it hopes to achieve £1.1m in savings by reductions in the LCSS, including via the introduction of a repair or replace scheme for domestic appliances. Currently, the city spends around £400,000 providing replacement appliances to residents who either do not have a particular appliance or where an appliance is broken.
By introducing a repair or replace element an engineer will be sent to the resident’s home to attempt to repair the domestic appliance or provide a refurbished alternative. A further half a million pounds could be saved by ending the provision of furniture packages to tenants of registered social landlords.
It has been identified that those landlords can provide the service and recover the cost of these by applying a service charge to the rent. The tenant can claim this service charge through their housing benefit or Universal Credit housing costs.
The council could also save £200,000 through the reduction of item provision, as well as replacing cash awards for those in emergency situations with supermarket vouchers. A further £1.1m could be saved through either ending the council’s benefits maximisation team.
Doing so would be “an absolute mistake” according to Cllr William Shortall, who made a passionate defence of the service earlier this month. Alternatively, reduction of the scope of the service, so it only deals with residents receiving social care could bring in £800,000.
The local authority has warned that should none of the options be taken forward, savings somewhere else and this may result in some other services being stopped or reduced. Consultations on the proposals are running on the Liverpool Council website until January 27.
The results of the public engagement exercise will be considered before a report is sent to the budget council in March. Any proposed changes would take effect from April 1.
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