Latest news with #Carr-West
BBC News
06-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
How will a 10% tax hike tackle Bradford's Council growing debts?
Bradford Council will vote later on raising council tax by 9.9% as it faces rising costs and debts which are expected to reach £1bn by will also consider cuts worth £42m in the next financial BBC examines the reasons behind the council's fiscal woes. Why is Bradford facing high debts? The council's borrowing has been prompted by a drop in government funding which it says has seen £350m cut from its budget since 2010/ year, the authority was granted government permission to borrow more, and sell off more of its surplus land and buildings, to keep essential services running and avoid effective emergency borrowing is predicted to grow considerably as the graph below shows. A report by the council's senior finance officer also states that rising debts will see the authority owe in excess of £1bn by 2030, rising from less than £400m in 2021/ of the current debt relates to capital projects, schemes such as Bradford Live and One City Park, which have been funded through government grants, loans, or a combination of the report states that it is increasingly relying on borrowing to run core services and 20p in every £1 will ultimately go towards debt repayment in costs of running services is also increasing, especially in children's being removed from direct council control and placed under an independent trust, its costs continue to spiral.. Are other councils facing similar problems? Bradford is one of several English councils with debts exceeding or likely to exceed £ City Council owes almost £3bn, and others such as Woking, Croydon and Spelthorne have similar a large debt is itself not an indication of financial troubles - as larger authorities will inevitably have larger borrowing needs - but in many recent cases, debts have posed serious the country, the picture for council finances has been dire for several years, leading to the government announcing a major shake-up of how local authorities are Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, said its State of Local Government Finance report laid bare what he said was the "dire situation facing councils across England"."It is no surprise that councils are having to pull all levers to balance their books," he said."This underlines a fundamentally flawed system for funding local government and one that needs to be radically reformed if we want to avoid an endless cycle of crisis management moving forward." What will the increase in tax mean? If the 9.99% council tax rise is approved later, an average Band D household in Bradford will face a rise of £170 this authorities in West Yorkshire plan to raise theirs but only by the normal maximum of 4.99%.Leeds' Band D bills are set to rise by £86 a year and Kirklees by £93. The annual increase will be £85 in Wakefield and £108 for Band D households in was one of six councils granted permission by the government earlier in the year to propose council tax rises above the usual maximum of 4.99%.The proposed rise has led to a series of protests and political opponents have also argued the hike could have been University student Taz Chowdhury, 21, was at one of the protests and said considering a 10% tax rise in one of the country's poorest cities was "egregious"."I don't think it's appropriate or acceptable, and we have to fight back," she said. Maureen Gorst and Jjeneen Sherrington were also among those said public services were "failing" and "broken" and rising living costs were a worry for everyone."I am 66, I retired a year ago, and I still have to have two jobs to manage," Ms Gorst Sherrington questioned the appropriateness of spending on public art and UK City of Culture in the current economic climate."I can't afford it," she added of the 10% council tax Siree also joined a protest with her 10-year-old son and said she was already struggling as a single parent."There's nothing left at the end of the month. Where do they think people are going to get this extra money from?" What has the council said? Labour council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said reducing reliance on borrowing was at the heart of the authority's financial recovery said increasing the council tax to 9. 99% as a one-off would actually help "make sure that we save the council taxpayers £111m worth of borrowing over the next 20 years"."We're already trying to reduce that borrowing to make it more manageable, not just for now, not just for next year, but for our children and our grandchildren," she said the tax made a "huge contribution" and the council was between a "rock and a hard place"."We don't want to do this increase in council tax, but we know it's the right thing to do, not just for now, but for the future." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
04-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Somerset Council has £300m property debt despite sell-off
A local authority has to pay off nearly £300m of loans with interest despite selling the properties bought with the Council is in the process of selling the shops and offices in its commercial property portfolio, which it inherited, along with the loan debt, from former district it has had to spend the proceeds on services such as adult social care, following its warnings that it could go effectively bankrupt.A council spokesperson said it was "clearly in the taxpayers' interest" to sell the properties rather than borrow more money. The council's properties ranged from an M&S building in Yeovil, to offices in Bristol, business parks including Street Retail Park, a TK Maxx in Worcester, and an NCP car park in Bournemouth. The district councils that were replaced by Somerset Council in 2023 along with the county council bought the properties with £298m in loans as part of an investment strategy taken by a number of English local £298m sum included fees and stamp duty as well as the cost of the councils hoped to rent out the properties and use the money to run local public just months after Somerset Council was created, it declared a "financial emergency" and said it would sell off 48 was given special permission by the government to spend the proceeds on running day-to-day services like adult social care and children's the portfolio has significantly lost value due to falling market prices in recent years. At the end of March 2024, the council's properties, including any already sold, were valued at £219m – a £78m loss on the initial of 31 December 2024, Somerset Council has sold properties for £76m that cost £104m to buy, a £27m £76m has been spent on day-to-day services in 2024/25, and the £104m debt remains with the council will also have lost the rental income from those around £18m of the debt arising from the property loans had, in March 2024, been paid purchases were largely funded by borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board, which the current council is responsible for repaying with interest. It makes these payments from its revenue Carr-West, of the Local Government Information Unit think tank, said councils had been encouraged to invest in commercial property by the government but many found the purchases "exacerbated their financial problems".The council spokesperson called for the government to take "urgent action to fix the system of funding local government which is fundamentally broken".
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Council spends £1.5m on single person's 'complex needs' amid fears over adult social care cash crisis
MPs have been warned about the scale of adult social care bills decimating council funding — with one local authority reportedly spending £1.5 million on an individual's care without receiving any additional financial support. On Wednesday, MPs heard about the struggles buckling local authorities are facing, with the experts warning that adult social care is "the biggest long-term pressure" councils face. The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils around the country, said they face a £6.2 billion funding gap over the next two years due to rising costs in adult social care, children's services, and other essential support. Adult social care experts ADASS warning that local authorities are facing unprecedented pressure, with overspending and reliance on short-term solutions. Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, highlighted the disparity in funding through one council supporting a person with complex needs care from three support staff. "I spoke recently to a chief executive [of a local council] who said we are spending £1.5 million a year supporting one individual with very complex needs because they require around the clock care," Carr-West told MPs on the housing, communities and local government select committee. "Our funding is almost entirely drawn through council tax - so is our neighbouring authority. "This person - as it happens - lives about two streets away from the boundary. If they lived three streets west, that bill would fall on a different local authority. There's nothing in the way that we are funded that recognises we have that cost and our neighbours don't," he added. Adult social care now accounts for more than 40% of all local authority spending on services in England, with the number of new requests for support from individuals aged 18–64 growing by nearly 20% in the last eight years - three times faster than the growth of the age group's population, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Due to other cost pressures and the gutting of council budgets dating back to austerity, many councils report significant deficits in their adult social care budgets. For example, one council spending £94.6 million annually on adult social care faces a £17.1 million funding gap. Despite real-terms increases in funding since 2019–20, English local government funding per resident remains on average 19% below 2010 levels and councils are under evident financial pressure, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. To combat costs, millions of people now face council tax hikes over normal thresholds after the government allowed six areas to boost rates above the usual 5%. The government has planned a £1 billion increase in adult social care funding for 2025-26, but Adass warns that it falls short of covering the estimated £1.8 billion in additional costs driven by rising national insurance contributions and the national living wage announced in the Budget. To fund adult social care, "you need to think of preventative support much earlier on," Aileen Murphie, the director of DCLG & Local government value for money at UK National Audit Office, said. Years ago, the National Audit Office could see that adult social care rise "was upward and the cost would follow." "People are waiting a long time for assessment, and a long time for services." she told MPs. Because of that, "they come into the system that much more dependent". "If they go into residential care, they never come out," she added. In a bid to tackle the issue, the government has announced its plans to create a National Care Service. The proposals, touted by health secretary Wes Streeting, outlined an ambitious plan to create a publicly funded system of social care across the UK. However, the government was criticised for the time it would take to create the service, with the results of a three-year consultation detailed in full in 2028. Sarah Woolnough, chief executive at The King's Fund, welcomed the announcement, but urged the government to 'accelerate the timing'. 'The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families," she warned.
