Our Transformation Strategy is continuing to support us to become a more efficient and sustainable organisation. Our services are being redesigned to ensure that they deliver maximum value for our communities and that they are flexible and responsive to the needs of our customers.
We are able to sustain our spending in priority areas, such as the education of our children and young people, and care and protection across our communities. We are making a significant investment in the expansion of early learning and childcare, including over 200 new jobs, as we prepare for increased entitlement to funded childcare, to 1140 hours per year from August 2020.
An increasing number of our workforce are taking up career change opportunities in growth areas such as teaching, early years, housing and social care. Our approach is helping us to avoid compulsory redundancies and reduce our workforce through natural staff turnover. Our workforce is our biggest asset and we will further develop their skills and talents to meet the needs of our communities.
To protect and sustain the vital services that we provide across East Ayrshire we need to always consider how we can increase income and reduce costs. This includes reviewing services against our statutory requirements, benchmarking our costs with other local authorities, sharing resources with partners and considering what we charge for services.