Calderdale Council has called for more support from the government after revealing they are more than £500,000 worse off than predicted.
According to the council, the government announced its provisional settlement for councils on December 18 last year. However, the council says this does not provide enough funding for the council.
The settlement included a 6.5% increase in the core spending power of councils, but Calderdale Council is only set to receive a 5.9% increase. This also assumes an increase in council tax to the highest level possible, 4.99%.
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In November 2023, the council made its Medium-Term Financial Plan, and according to their latest estimates they will be £655,000 worse off than predicted in this plan. The leader of Calderdale Council, Councillor Jane Scullion, appealed to the government for more assisatnce.
She said: “We are over half a million pounds worse off than expected. We urgently need more funding from national Government to give our communities the support they need, and we urge them to give further consideration to the serious pressures on council services and escalating demand. We will be calling for this in our response to the Local Government Finance Settlement consultation, before the final allocations are confirmed nationally in the next few weeks.
“In February we need to set a balanced budget for the financial year ahead. Government funding keeps reducing in real terms and is not keeping up with the rising costs we face. We are more reliant than ever on Council Tax as our main source of income. We have some really difficult decisions to make to close our £11.7 million funding gap. Decisions that will affect the services our communities rely on every day, despite the amazing work our Council has done to reduce costs over the past decade.
“The rapidly increasing demand for our services, especially in social care for children and adults, means we will have to do more with less, having already lost £110 million from our budgets and a third of our workforce since 2010.”
Now, the provisional financial settlement will inform any budget proposals put forward which will be considered by Calderdale Council’s cabinet on January 15. The annual budget consultation will begin after the meeting, and members of the public will be able to comment within the next 28 days.
Then, the budget will be agreed on Monday, February 26.
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