Government funding for Birmingham halved since 2010

GOVERNMENT funding for Birmingham City Council has almost been cut in half since 2010, the national spending watchdog has warned.

As a result, the council is increasingly focusing on social care while other services such as housing and cultural activities take the brunt of cuts.

The National Audit Office (NAO) warned that the finances of councils across the country have “worsened markedly” and the situation is “not financially sustainable over the medium term”.

NAO head Amyas Morse said: “Current funding for local authorities is characterised by one off and shortterm fixes.”

The findings were published in a new report looking at the financial sustainability of local authorities.

As part of the study, the NAO published data showing how funding for local councils has changed since the 2010-11 financial year after compen- sating for the effects of inflation. It found that central government funding for Birmingham City Council has fallen by 49.2 per cent once inflation is taken into account. This is roughly the same as the national average.

Total funding for Birmingham has fallen by 37.6 per cent. This includes money that comes from council tax and other sources.

It shows that while increases in council tax have partly compensated for cuts in central government grants, the council’s total budget nificantly down.

Birmingham’s total budget in the 12 months up to April 2017 was £710.8 million. But it actually spent £756.4 million, which means it went £55.6 million over budget.

As it attempted to control costs, the council cut spending on housing by 53.8 per cent in real terms between 2010 and 2017, and spending on cultural and related services by 44.4 per cent. This allowed it to cut spendng is still sig- on adult social care by the relatively low figure of 14.9 per cent, and on social care for children by 4.7 per cent. It was a similar picture in other local authorities.

The National Audit Office said: “Local authorities have protected spending on service areas such as adult and children’s social care where they have significant statutory responsibilities, but the amount they spend on areas that are more discretionary has fallen sharply.”