Public consultation on Leeds City Council’s annual budget proposals to deliver an estimated £69.8million savings in the next financial year has now begun.
The 2023/24 budget proposals include a proposed council tax increase of 4.99 per cent, with two per cent of that earmarked for Adult Social Care funding. A full press release on the budget can be seen at Leeds City Council Leader calls for ‘Fundamental Changes’ to council funding as budget details for 2023/24 announced.
The online consultation survey is now live at Leeds City Council Budget Consultation 2023-24 and will run until the end of Wednesday 11 January. Views and feedback will also be received from a range of stakeholders including councillors, trades unions, business representatives and third sector groups. Staff in council-managed community hubs are available to support people to fill in the survey if needed. The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete and every response will be reviewed with the results feeding into a report that will be available to read in February as part of the final budget papers.
Council Leader Councillor James Lewis made the comments as the details of the proposed budget for 2023/24. The proposals include increasing general council tax by 2.99 per cent, with an additional two per cent of that earmarked for tackling adult social care costs as put forward by the government in its Autumn Statement last month. Separately, in respect of council housing, the proposals include a seven per cent increase in housing rents, and £3.14 per tenant per week increase in service charges specifically for tenants in multi-storey flats and low/medium-rise flats where they receive additional services such as cleaning of communal areas, lift maintenance, staircase heating and lighting, and CCTV. This increase mainly reflects rising energy costs.
Rising energy costs, high levels of inflation and increasing costs and demand for services especially in children’s services and for adult social care, along with a nationally-agreed pay increase for staff have contributed to a shortfall of £69.8million, needing savings by the council to balance its budget next year.
Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor James Lewis said:
“The system of how councils are funded needs a fundamental change as it is simply not realistic or sustainable for councils like ours to keep finding significant savings year on year to deliver a balanced budget while continuing to provide vital services especially to support our most vulnerable residents.
“Despite recent initial moves towards devolving funding and decision-making from Whitehall to regions, our national economy remains one of the most centralised in the world. Government funding for councils is worked out using outdated formulas rather than considering need, across all areas including health funding, housing, council tax, business rates, education and social care.
“The current business rates system is a good example of not being fit for purpose, as Leeds is the only northern core city which has to send tax resources back to the Treasury. A Fair Funding Review was announced by the government back in 2016, and we need an update as to when its findings will be implemented to move to more of a needs-based system. Such a change would much more fairly reflect and support the needs of a modern, diverse city and culture such as we have here in Leeds.
“We have seen core government funding for Leeds reduced by approximately £263million for each year between 2011 and 2023 yet the need for services remains high. Twelve years into the national government’s austerity agenda we are having to look at steps to keep the council budget balances that we have not taken already over this period. We will review a number of the council’s Little Owls nurseries and also increase the number of parks and attractions where we charge for car parking.
“As our communities and city are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic and are now also dealing with the impact of a cost of living crisis too, we know people are really struggling. Despite needing to make more incredibly difficult decisions next year, we remain fully committed to doing everything we can to continue to help people, and especially to care for the most vulnerable members of our communities in the challenging year ahead.”
To help tackle an estimated gap of nearly £70m in 2023/24 and set a balanced budget, we’re asking for your views on our budget proposals. Councillors will see the results of the consultation before they make a final decision on the budget. Your views will help make sure that the final decision is in the best interests of the city and the people who live, work, visit and study in Leeds.
Leeds City Council is asking for views on how it spends its money to deliver vital services and meet its legal requirement to set a balanced budget for 2023/24 www.surveys.leeds.gov.uk
