Southend's council leader has vowed to avoid cuts in jobs and frontline social services despite a £600,000 cut in crucial Government grants.

Charles Latham told how ministers had slashed the council's social services handout by £600,000. In his budget package for next year, Mr Latham also revealed Southend will have one of the lowest council tax increases in Essex.

In addition, 8.9 per cent extra will be spent on schools and education in the borough.

He said: "Despite the very strict controls which are being imposed on us by the Government, we will be able to deliver a balanced budget, improve service delivery and have no compulsory redundancies.

"We will be spending an extra 8.9 per cent on education and despite our social services grant being cut by £600,000, we are still working to spend at the Government's spending recommendation (standard spending assessment) and ensuring other services do not suffer because of social services.

"At the moment we are spending above SSA on social services, but so is almost every other local authority in the country."

There were fears that the number of bed blockers - patients who are medically fit to be discharged from hospital but have nowhere appropriate to go - could be adversely affected by the £600,000 reduction.

However, it was also revealed that £1.2m to reduce bed blocking was to be dished out by the Department of Health - though hospitals will have control of the cash.

The constant chops and changes in the budget have left council officers scrabbling to reshuffle services, according to executive councillor for health and social care, Verina Wilson.

She said: "It seems like they're taking it out of one hand and putting it in the other.

"They've halved our £1.2m independence grant, but then put £1.2m through the NHS, which doesn't always have the same priorities as us. We'll be sitting down over the next few weeks and doing some horse-trading with the NHS and the primary care trust."

She added: "I was shocked at this sudden reduction in the grant - and we've made our dissatisfaction quite clear to the Government."

A total of 26 placements within older people's residential homes could be removed to free up more money to help elderly people in their own homes, a report to councillors suggests.

Other ways of "pulling in the belt" include developing a new fostering scheme and re-examination of transportation costs within children's services.

Published Monday January 14, 2002