NEWPORT City Council is still having to make budget savings, including by looking at making overtime more regulated, and the possibility of job losses.

The cabinet met yesterday at the civic centre, where it discussed a ‘prospectus for change’, which explained how the council could cut costs.

Its main requirements were for strong leadership, a recognition some services would be reduced to or near to statutory the minimum and that the loss of some staff and buildings was “inevitable”.

During the meeting, council leader Bob Bright said: “Overtime should be assessed and a task given to the members of staff.

“It should be structured and controlled by a manager and the manager should estimate the amount of time and then see the task is completed within that time.”

The report presented to the cabinet described some highlights of the progress made so far.

These include the development of a leisure trust model in Newport to manage sports centres as well as claiming a “streamlining of management and supervisory levels across the council” and a focus on prevention within social services.

Debra Wood Lawson, head of people and transformation, warns in the report: “Given the scale of the challenges facing the council over the next five years, it has to be recognised that the council cannot rule out having to make redundancies.

“All employees directly affected will be supported by the provisions of the council’s job security policy, which aims to minimise compulsory redundancies and retain employees in our employment wherever possible.”

The cost-cutting strategy runs from 2013 to 2017 and was initiated by the government’s programme of austerity.

But the council warned that although it will be required to make further saving in coming years – especially considering the Welsh Government just cut the council’s budget by 2.6 per cent – many of the easier budget savings have already been put into practice.