By ANISAH ARIF
The council’s budget proposals for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 will be discussed next month at Bradford’s Council’s Executive meeting.
The report aims to set out an update on previous budget decisions, proposed Council Tax and a proposed update to the Council’s four-year budget plan agreed in February 2017 to reflect changes in circumstances such as funding changes, rising costs and increased pressures on social care.
Since 2011, the council has approved £262 million of budget savings and has invested £56 million into priority areas largely to help cover the impact of demographic increase across social care.
The savings proposed in the report amount to £13.5 million for 2019-20 with a further £19.9 million identified for 2020-21. A part of these savings are a contribution of measures already in place. Others are new, and are proposed for consultation.
There is a further projected ‘funding gap’ of £28.8 million for 2020-21. However, the final remainder of this gap will be subject to further local government funding announcements form the Government, and as soon as the final position is known, the council are required to work up plans over the next 12 months to cover this gap.
The report will refresh the 2017 to 2021 plan, factoring in new and existing pressures and changes to funding combined with targeted investment, when it will go to the Executive meeting. This plan will balance the budget for 2019-2020.
Previously, financial pressures, reducing budgets, increasing demands and rising costs has meant that some activities and areas have had to be scaled back or stopped. The Council continues to recognise the priority activities for the district despite reductions in funding from the government.
However, adults and children’s social care remains a primary concern for the Council and a large element of the financial pressures are attributed to the increasing demand and costs in those areas, which reflect the national scale. Therefore, identifying that those areas need investment continues to be part of the Council’s concern.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday 4 December, where the Bradford Council’s Executive will consider the proposals before agreeing them for consultation.
Demand for many services continues to rise and the government will be taking away its main revenue support grant entirely by 2020. In 2013/14 that gave Bradford Council £183 million.
In real terms the Council’s net budget in 2020 will be around half what it was in 2010.
Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, said: “It is a dereliction of duty of Government not to properly fund local public services. The cuts on Local Government have been huge, far greater than other Government departments and damaging to those people who rely on public services the most.
“We are not alone in this. Local Councils up and down the country are crying out for better funding for services. Adults Social Care and Children’s Social Care now account for over 50% of our spending and the demand is increasing all the time. Government cannot ignore this issue.
“In spite of the many constraints caused by the cuts, our staff continue to deliver high-quality public services. They deserve praise for their continued commitment in what are trying circumstances.”
Consultation will start following the Executive meeting and will continue until 27 January 2019, to enable the feedback to be reflected in the papers that are published for the Executive meeting on 19 February 2019.
