Nottingham City Council confirms tax rise and budget cuts
Nottingham City Council has confirmed a maximum council tax rise and a series of cuts.Councillors met on Monday evening to confirm the authority's budget for the next financial year.It will see the council's share of bills increase by 4.99% from April - the largest increase allowed by government without holding a local referendum.Council leader Neghat Khan said the authority was "getting its house in order" after years of financial problems.
Among the £18m of savings for 2025/26 are reviews of several adult social care services, such as direct payments, "high-cost" care packages, and eligibility for transport.The largest savings, however, will be made through changes to some back-office functions, which the council said involved "new ways of working and operational efficiencies".It also said it received a better-than-expected financial settlement from central government.Khan said the budget "shows the council is now financially stable and that we are working towards becoming financially sustainable"."We know that the people of Nottingham want a council that gets the basics right and delivers the best local services we can afford, whilst also looking ahead so that the city can reach its full potential," she said.In order to set a balanced budget, however, the council has used more than £20million of "Exceptional Financial Support" (EFS) - a process through which it uses the sale of assets to fund day-to-day spending, which councils are not usually allowed to do.Khan told the BBC she hopes the council will be able to balance its books without the need for EFS in two years' time.
Demonstrators outside the meeting called for the council to use its reserves rather than make cuts.The calls were echoed by former Sheriff of Nottingham Shuguftah Quddoos, who was suspended by Labour after voting against last year's budget.She told the meeting the cuts could "easily be covered by reserves" and said the authority would have "comfortably enough left over for unforeseen circumstances"."These decisions are not being made out of necessity. They are deliberate and political. The harm and damage are avoidable, and the people of Nottingham deserve better," she said.Responding to her, deputy council leader Ethan Radford said using reserves would risk causing further financial issues in future years."What happens when the reserves run out? What happens when your suggestions put the vulnerable at risk? What happens when your suggestions close our services?" he said.It was also announced on Monday that Quddoos has now joined the Green Party.The budget was welcomed by the commissioners who were brought in to help run the council last year.Lead Commissioner Tony McArdle said: "The council has made significant strides in reversing their decline and starting to implement much-needed transformation."
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