Stoke-on-Trent City Council is proposing to cut its annual spending by £8 million and raise council tax by 4.99 per cent as it looks to combat a predicted £29.5 million shortfall in the next financial year.
Services set to be affected in 2024/25 include public libraries, some free car parks and the Telecare and community alarm system as well as the proposed introduction of a £40 annual charge for household brown bin collections.
The authority says more job reductions are likely and it is currently consulting on the equivalent of 16 full-time positions. This is despite it having cut 65 vacant posts and agreeing a further 30 voluntary redundancies over the last few months.
The council says it has no choice but to make the cuts, as failure to set a balanced budget could result in government commissioners being brought in to run the authority. This could lead to even more drastic reductions in services such as museums and leisure centres closed and CCTV turned off.
As part of its strategy to balance the books, the council has also revealed it is in detailed talks with the government for a package of extra financial support of up to £44.7 million over a two year-period to allow it to change the way children’s services are operated.
This would allow it to use the sale of capital assets to finance the challenges it faces with respect to children’s social care.
It comes as the council proposes to spend £192.1 million of its overall budget on children’s services, adults’ services and public health.
Currently, more than 3,500 vulnerable adults require social care support, and 1,150 children are in the council’s care – one in every 56 children in the city – which is the highest number per head of population in the country.
The council tax rise of 4.99 per cent includes a 2 per cent social care precept and equates to an additional 99p a week for the average council taxpayer in the city.
A public consultation is now open regarding £3.4 million of the proposed cuts, which will run until February 12. The further £4.6 million reduction will be achieved through transforming back office work which, the council says, will not impact on frontline services.
Council leader Jane Ashworth said: “Times have seldom felt so hard – we know that is the case for many families in the city, and the same can be said for our public services.
“We have some very difficult choices to make if we are to set a balanced budget for the next financial year.
“We aren’t the only council in this position. Years of austerity, which have seen £250m taken out of city council budgets over the past 10 years, the enduring impact of the Covid pandemic and the growing pressures of social care are taking its toll right across the country – at least one in five councils are facing the prospect of not being able to set a balanced budget in this or future years.”
Cllr Ashworth added: “We have already introduced very tight controls on council spend and these measures are working, they have saved over £2m already, and they continue to have a positive impact. But we now need the support of residents in the decisions we have to make.”
The budget consultation will run until 12 February. Residents can give their views via [email protected], visiting www.stoke.gov.uk/budget2024, contacting the council on social media, by searching for SoTCityCouncil on both Facebook and X, or by writing to: Budget 2024, c/o Executive Assistant to the Director of Strategy and Resources, Civic Centre, Glebe Street, Stoke, ST4 1HH.
