THREE quarters of the £646,000 in cuts to be made from Hyndburn Council’s revenue budget from 2019/20 will be taken from back office areas, council bosses said.

The borough’s resources chief, Cllr Joyce Plummer, said the proposed budget for next year avoided the need for any compulsory redundancies and protected front line services.

And council tax was only rising by 2 per cent – one of the lowest increases in the country.

Cllr Plummer said: “The main risk faced by the council will centre around the level of business rates going into the local economy and Brexit.

“Our council tax increase of two per cent is one of the lowest in Lancashire.

“We have not got the data for the rest of the country but most will be increasing at the maximum 2.99 per cent rate allowed.

“If we increased at the maximum, it would raise an extra £46,000 in revenue.”

£85,000 will be saved through a reduction in pension auto-enrollment while £20,000 will be saved through increasing cremation service fees.

And more than £25,000 will be brought in through increasing pest control fees, while another £25,000 will be saved by increasing commerical waste services income.

Almost £44,000 will be saved through accountancy services staff reorganisation.