COUNCIL bosses in Southend have been told they must save a total of £5.6million from next year’s budget, something they have described as a challenge.

As the full scale of the Government’s grant cuts were revealed by Conservative Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, Civic Centre leaders were forced to take a fresh look at budgets which had already been sharply pared back.

Tory council leader Nigel Holdcroft said the real process of deciding which services should bear the brunt of the savings could finally start, now Mr Pickles had announced grant figures.

He said: “We have done a lot of work beforehand, including cross-party and extensive residents’ consultation.

“Now we have the figures, we can start to move forward.

“It’s obviously challenging and the devil will be in the detail, but I think people are expecting to see some significant savings and will be prepared for that.”

Southend Council got £72.3million in grants this year – about half its annual budget.

It will get more than £8million less next April.

However, the council workers’ union, Unison, is urging councillors to fight for more money.

Claire Wormald, the union’s Southend branch secretary, said: “We elected these people to represent us and they have not been doing that.

“They should be doing all they can to persuade the Government this is not necessary.”

Council bosses have refused to speculate on which jobs or services might have to be cut.

They have, however, ruled out using the council’s £10million reserve fund to bail out the budget.