Hull Council hires outside staff to make £20m cuts

Consultants will be paid up to £415,000 to deliver £20m worth of cuts to adult social care in Hull, it has emerged.
Coun Phil WebsterCoun Phil Webster
Coun Phil Webster

London-based iMPOWER Consulting Ltd has been awarded a contract by Labour-led Hull Council to deliver up to £20m savings over five years.

The consultants will be paid up to £170,000 to deliver a business case, with further “complementary consultancy” at a cost of up to £245,000.

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Unions - who were taken by surprise by the move - say further cuts will hit the most vulnerable and could put lives at risk.

The deal, revealed in a decision record published on the council’s website, includes “the provision of immediate support to facilitate the delivery of in year ‘quick win’ savings to assist address current financial savings targets.”

Unite convenor Peter Schofield accused management of shifting responsibility for more cuts by hiring consultants to make “arbitrary” decisions and said Labour councillors should have fought their corner more with the Government over further cuts.

He said making “quick savings” was a myth, because of the cost involved in making people redundant, claiming: “The reality is that there will be a £5m to £6m overspend this year for adult social care.

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“It is a disgrace that they are bringing in external consultants to say how adult social care will be run.

“We have had a team working on this for two-and-a-half years and after two-and-a-half years they bring someone else in. Surely someone is accountable?

“The only way you can save money is to stop doing something or close something. I think this is them saying: ‘It isn’t us - it’s the consultants telling us we have to close another residential home or pay staff less.’”

Hull Council has said previously it had to make some of its services “financially sustainable” following cuts to its central government grant.

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It has already decided to close three day centres and two supported housing units by next March, with up to 80 staff facing redundancy.

Coun Phil Webster told The Yorkshire Post they had chosen iMPOWER over Ernst & Young, which was also shortlisted, because they “could put in more resources, more manpower and were cheaper. They promised us some quick wins to get some in year savings.”

He said the chance of being able to deliver the changes inhouse was “zero” - but they wanted to avoid “massive” redundancies “at all cost.”

The consultants’ findings will be reported to a Cabinet meeting next March. Coun Webster said: “The first three months they are doing evaluation and seeing where we can get some quick wins - they will then come back and say where the changes can be made.”

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In the decision record Coun Helena Spencer stated: “Adult social care is undergoing one of the biggest transformational change programmes this council has undertaken, and this needs additional external support and expertise.”

Although the plan does not involve “immediate HR” issues, it warns that remodelling current services “will impact on staff of the council”. It adds: “Careful management of communications and consultation throughout the project will be required to achieve the transformation.”

Chancellor George Osborne is allowing councils to raise council tax two per cent to pay for social care. But the Local Government Association has said the measures will affect poor areas - like Hull - more because they have lower council tax revenues.

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