BACK £8M CUTS BUT PLAN RELIANT ON GOVERNMENT SUPPORT TO HELP BALANCE BUDGET
Authority should get an answer by Friday
COUNCIL leaders have backed proposals for another £8 million of budget cuts and a 4.99 per cent tax hike – blaming central government and the previous administration for their authority’s ‘financial decline’.
Stoke-on-trent City Council’s Labour leadership say they were facing a funding gap of £30 million when they took power after last May’s local elections, as a result of ‘central government cuts... and poor local decisions’.
The authority’s cabinet voted to recommend the budget for approval by full council on March 5, but the proposals are reliant on securing £42.2 million in ‘exceptional financial support’ (EFS) from government. Council leader Jane Ashworth told the meeting that if this support was not forthcoming, local services faced being ‘stripped to the bone’ and there would be a ‘massive struggle’ to balance the budget.
But she add a ‘stabilisation recovery plan’ had been drawn up to improve the council’s financial position.
Measures, being funded through the EFS package, would include a major investment in early intervention to prevent children being taken into care – currently one of the biggest drains on council funds.
She said: “It’s a step forward in arresting our financial decline, stabilising our finances and starting to build a road to recovery. Our intention is to reduce our biggest costs, particularly the £58 million we currently spend each year on children who are in the care of the local authority. In addition to the financial cost, the human cost in terms of the impact to each and every one of those children and families is incalculable.
“The crux of the budget, and the way to bridge that budget gap, is to fund an investto-save programme, which changes the way we look after our children and struggling families. There needs to be a more effective early help system in our city. It’s a way of working that keeps children safe and out of care. It’s my view that the previous administration should have started this transformation because it’s common sense.”
Ms Ashworth described previous cuts to early help as ‘the falsest of false economies’. She
also said the plans included a £7 million investment in services for 3,500 vulnerable adults.
Alastair Watson, cabinet member for financial sustainability and corporate resources, below left, said: “For over a decade, government funding has been disconnected from council need. Over £170 million has been cut out of council budget rounds since 2010.
“The council’s core spending power has gone down, whereas in some leafier areas it’s gone up – figure that one out.
“If residents feel that their council tax pound doesn’t go far as it used to, it doesn’t because it’s making up for a reduction in Government funding.”
Budget proposals include a new £40 annual charge for garden waste bins and a reduction in library opening hours.
Ms Ashworth said the council would be aiming to address residents’ concerns over both of these savings, although they currently remain unchanged in the budget document.
The city council expects to get an answer from the Government to its EFS request by March 1. The cabinet will meet to respond to this shortly before the budget council meeting on March 5. By law, a balanced budget has to be set before March 11.