‘A sticking plaster on a gaping wound’: Council leader slams extra government funding

Communities secretary Michael Gove announced on Wednesday that England’s local authorities will receive a £600m funding boost following recent warnings of further council bankruptcies.

Council tax bills in Wakefield look set to go up by the maximum 4.99% again this year as the authority looks to fill a £33m budget shortfall.

Denise Jeffery, leader of the Labour-run council, said: “Local government has never been in such a difficult financial position.

“There isn’t a council anywhere in the country that won’t badly need this additional money.

“Wakefield is tackling a budget gap of £33m next year. That’s despite the fact we’ve run the council very responsibly over the years.

“Whilst we obviously welcome additional resources, this amounts to another sticking plaster to cover a gaping wound.”

Mr Gove said local authorities would share £500m to help fund children’s and adult social care.

Almost half of Wakefield’s budget is now spent on adult social care as the authority says more vulnerable residents rely on its services than ever before.

Coun Jeffery added: “We will have to spend over £300m next year to deal with demand on our children’s and adult services.

“That’s £300m just to keep those services running.

“This latest funding will give us just over 1% of that critical spend with absolutely no guarantee we can rely on it in future years.

“It does absolutely nothing to ease the burden we are forced to put on our residents through local taxation.

“All the government’s financial calculations assume councils apply the maximum increase for council tax, quite simply giving us no choice.”

“Council leaders from every political party are crying out for long-term, sustainable core funding.

“But they continue to be ignored by this government.

“It is clear that this announcement is yet another Conservative smokescreen.

“It has been done in haste with no intention of doing the right thing for our residents or for vulnerable service users across the country.”

Saving measures totalling more than £21m are expected in next month’s council budget.

Proposed cuts include selling off Castleford Civic Centre and saving £3.5m by not replacing vacant council jobs.

The government has given councils six months to produce new ‘productivity plans’ as part of the terms of additional funding announced.

Mr Gove has said the plans would be used to inform funding settlements in future years.