12-02-2025
The 'unjust' £250m problem set to rock Stockport
Stockport council has a mammoth task ahead. Town hall bosses need to save up to £60m over the next few years as costs to fund local services continue to grow.
To balance the books, new charges are on the table for garden waste collections, car parks, and council tax, as part of the borough's budget plans.
But a major new problem has reared its head which could slap the council with a near £250m bill, according to its finance cabinet member.
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Employer national insurance contributions are set to increase nationally, and Stockport council said it was promised extra cash to help cover the cost as part of its share of the Local Government Finance Settlement - a pot of cash given to town halls every year.
But at Stockport council's latest cabinet meeting on February 4, Coun Jilly Julian said the borough has been given no extra money for the national insurance increases - leaving the council with a massive black hole to plug.
She said: "We have been told that we will be compensated for the direct impact for the council of employer national insurance contributions increasing.
'[But the latest finance settlement shows] we won't be directly compensated for the entirety of the impact of that additional cost.
'We know that there's going to be a shortfall of £233m from the funding that's been put forward in the final settlement, that's almost a quarter of a million pound hole in what we believed from the provisional settlement would be available to the council."
The Local Government Association (LGA) has also warned about the problem.
In November, the LGA's social care spokesperson, Coun David Fothergill, said the increases to employer national insurance contributions are "likely to add significant costs for councils and the wider sector," and risks "putting vital services at significant risk of collapse."
Stockport council also missed out on millions of pounds of extra funding through the government's Recovery Fund - one of the only councils in the country to do so.
But it did receive some extra cash from the government, with a 5.89 percent increase in the council's core spending power in 2025/26.
On February 27, councillors in Stockport will vote on whether to approve the proposals to balance the books, which includes the proposed charges for garden waste and car parks.
But in the short-term, pressure is growing on the council's ability to keep funding local service.
Coun Julian said that the situation feels "unjust," but added that the council will still set a balanced budget this year.
"The bones of it is, pressures exceed funding, it's that simple," she said.
"For the 16th consecutive year there's insufficient funding with which we need to protect our most vulnerable residents, deliver vital social care services, and provide the universal services that all of our residents rely on."
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was contacted for comment.
