Government confirms 28% council cut for 2016/17

December 22, 2015 by Southend Borough Council

Government confirms 28% council cut for 2016/17

Tuesday 22nd December 2015

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council will receive £8.4M (28%) less of core funding from central Government in 2016/17 and follows an £11m cut in 2015/16. The news comes after details of the local government finance settlement were announced nationally last week.

Cllr Ron Woodley, Leader of the Council said:

"I said earlier this month that we would have to unveil yet another tough budget in January and unfortunately the local government finance settlement has offered us no crumbs of comfort whatsoever.

“There is much rhetoric from the Government about the offer of four year deals, that authorities can raise council tax by 2% for social care purposes, and ‘spending power’ figures that bear no comparison to the financial reality that we face.

“In addition, the finer details rarely match the national headlines, and as the Government gives with one hand, they take away with the other. We understand that £1.1m of grant funding that we expected to be available next year is now instead being rolled into our overall revenue support grant, which has then also been cut even deeper than anticipated.

“Our core grant for 2016/17 will be £21.4M, which is a reduction of £8.4M (28%) on our 2015/16 budget, which had itself already been reduced by £11m from 2014/15. By 2020 we are on course to receive no core government grant at all, and we will be largely reliant on council tax and business rates.

“It is within this context of such cuts that we will need to save approaching £1m a month next year, whilst continuing to provide services for our most vulnerable, keep the streets clean, support businesses and ensure Southend-on-Sea remains an attractive and popular place to live, visit and do business.”