Setting a budget amid the need to find almost £50m in savings has been an “enormous task” according to the Mayor of Liverpool.
Liverpool Council has confirmed its final budget proposals for the next financial year following receipt of a government settlement just before Christmas. As a result, the amount the city needs to save stands at £49m rather than the eye-watering £73m previously feared.
As part of the better than expected settlement outcome, the local authority has confirmed welfare-related budget options including reduction or removal of the benefits maximisation team; reduction of the council tax support scheme; reducing the number of One Stop Shops and removal of council tax relief for foster carers have been avoided. However, the council has confirmed it will seek to raise council tax by the new higher level of 4.99% when it meets on March 1.
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Mayor Joanne Anderson, who told the ECHO back in November how original budget options had been “horrific,” said setting the budget for the next financial year has “undoubtedly been the biggest challenge of my term as Mayor.” She said: “Having to find £49million in savings amid economic turmoil, soaring inflation and a national cost of living crisis has been an enormous task.
“Local authorities have borne the brunt of austerity for over a decade now, and areas like Liverpool have suffered disproportionately at the hands of this Tory government. In 2010, government funding for local authorities in England was just over £34 billion.”
Mayor Anderson said the cuts to finding had been “brutal” and local authorities had been expected to continue to provide “critical and valued public services” for much less. She added: “For many of our residents, these services represent a real lifeline and contribute to their standard of living.
“However, in this period Liverpool City Council has lost over half a billion in funding, which effectively works out as losing over a thousand pounds per household every year.” It had been feared vital services such as the benefits maximisation team and One Stop Shops could be cut to save cash at the Cunard with councillors and residents expressing their worries at such moves.
Mayor Anderson said both she and the controlling Labour group had “prioritised protecting and supporting the most vulnerable residents in our city” and “despite huge challenges” had managed to protect such services. She said: “When our residents and communities are struggling, it is local councils that step in to fill the gaps in social care created by the government. But we cannot continue to do this.”
Despite a better than expected outcome from the coffers at Whitehall, Mayor Anderson warned further financial challenges faced the council moving forward in years to come. She said: “Even after the huge savings being delivered as part of this budget, as an authority we will be expected to find further savings of almost £20m in 2024/25 and £17m in 2025/26.
“These sorts of cuts are simply not sustainable. They have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences for communities around the country as local authorities struggle to keep their heads above water.
“The acute irresponsibility of the Tory government and clear lack of any kind of moral compass is destroying lives. Unless they start funding councils fairly, local authorities will simply be unable to continue – and this will be the Tory legacy.”
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