Councils warn of cuts to services

In a survey carried out by the Local Government Association (LGA), two-thirds of councils have warned that communities will see cutbacks to local neighbourhood services this year.

Struggling to plug funding gaps, councils have warned there could be cuts to waste collection, road repairs, library, and leisure services.

Ahead of next week's spring budget, the LGA has called on the government to  provide further funding to address the growing financial crisis facing councils and local services.

With a general election later this year, councils say all political parties also need to provide manifesto commitments to reform the entire system of funding local government so it can deliver all vital local services.

The government has already provided £600 million extra funding in 2024/25 to help protect services from some cuts and support councils to try and set balanced budgets this year. However, the LGA is pointing out a £4 billion funding gap across 2023/24 and 2024/25.

The survey shows most councils said the extra money would help to some extent, but the majority (58 per cent) said this impact would be “small”. 85 per cent of councils said they would still have to make cost savings to balance their 2024/25 budget.

Cllr Shaun Davies, LGA Chair, said: “Extra government funding will help councils this year, but acute funding pressures remain and are forcing many councils to make stark choices about what popular services to cut.

“This will not go unnoticed by our local communities. It means less potholes filled, more streetlights dimmed or turned off, and fewer library or leisure services.

“Without further funding, cost and demand pressures will continue to stretch council budgets to the limit and lead to more of the cherished services our communities rely on every day from having to be drastically scaled back or lost altogether as councils are increasingly forced to do more with less.”