Hundreds of jobs to be cut, Council Tax to rise and services to be reduced as part of Bradford Council's latest budget

The draft budget, released today, sees cuts in most departments except Children’s and Adults Services, and require the Council to make £13.5 million in savings for 2019-20, with a further £19.9 million needed in 2020-21.

It will also see Council Tax rise by 2.99 per cent from April, with an additional 2.99 per cent the following year being likely.

The Council will dip into its reserves to find millions to help balance the books, and despite all these measures, it expects to be left with a “funding gap” of £28.8 million by the end of 2021.

Job losses in the next year were previously expected to be around 68, but an extra 168 jobs are now likely to be cut by April 2020, with another 111 jobs going by April 2021.

The changes brought on by the cuts will likely include many of the district’s libraries being handed over from Council control to community groups, the Council pulling out of managing facilities like sports pitches and cutting its street cleaning budget.

It will look at ways to bring in more income, including increasing parking charges and introducing charges in more areas, and renting out Council facilities like museums for events and functions.

But the Council will also be spending £54.3 million on capital expenditure, including £45 million on replacing the district’s streetlights with LED lighting, a £2.503 investment in a new sports village in Wyke, an extra £5.5 million in Children’s Services and an extra £3.2 million for adult social care over the next two years, along with £6 million to cover “structural financial challenges.”

The budget comes in light of huge government cuts to local authorities.

By 2020 the government will be taking away its revenue support grant to the Council, meaning the authority will have to almost fully rely on income from Council Tax and business rates to run services.

Although the Council has been uneasy about dipping into its reserves in the past, the 2019/20 financial year will see £3.5 million taken out of reserves to balance the budget.

Bradford Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe says the authority is now eagerly awaiting next year’s government spending review, and says it would be a “dereliction of duty” for the government to not plough more money into public services.

She said that in real terms the Council’s budget in 2020 will be half of what it was in 2010.

She said: “In spite of Theresa May’s declaration that austerity is over, it most certainly is not. Public services are straining at the seams.

“Since 2010, the Council has had to approve £262 million of budget cuts.”

She said the proposed Council Tax rise would mean that Bradford still had the lowest Council Tax level in West Yorkshire, and would amount to an annual rise of £39.86 for a band D property.

While the budget for next year includes some major cuts, Cllr Hinchcliffe says the 2020/21 budget has some “very unpalatable” cuts.

She added: “If the Government do not address the structural deficit in a significant way, then the 2020/21 budget savings give you an indication of the type of cuts we reluctantly have to make. We would do these with a heavy heart. These are all services which Bradford Labour prizes as important and even essential to maintaining a good place for residents to live. However the Government are putting local authorities all over the country in an impossible situation.”

When asked what she would say to members of the public who face paying higher Council Tax in the face of reducing services, Cllr Hinchcliffe said: “I don’t think it should be solely the responsibility of Council Tax payers to fund adult and children’s social care. I think the government needs to take responsibility for that.

“Sadly people need to realise that the Council services they have enjoyed over the years have been subsidised by 50 per cent by national government.

“Now these services are having to be funded solely by Council Tax and business rates, that is why services are being cut at the same time Council tax is going up.

“Taxpayers are having to fund adult and social care services - services that we need to make sure are up to standards and that we all may need to use someday.”

Some budget proposals for next year have already been consulted. Cuts proposed in the budget for the next two years include:

£1.7m welfare advice and customer service

£2.947m from school nursing and health visiting

£3.5m from the substance misuse service

£120,000 from visitor information services

£250,000 from events and festivals

£2m from library servies, which could include around 80 per cent of staffing costs

£760,000 from museums and galleries

£1m from street cleansing

£175,000 by ending the Health Check service funded by the Council

£824,000 from the youth service

£161,000 reduction in grants to town and parish councils

£647,600 from sexual health services

An increase in parking charges, and introducing parking charges in other areas, will bring in an extra £495,000 over the next two years.

The £5.5 million boost to Children’s Services will be to help improve the service after it was judged inadequate by Ofsted earlier this month, as well as helping with increasing demand on the service.

Referrals rose by 30 per cent last year, and the cost of external care places for children rose have increased by 21 per cent since 2013

Cllr Hinchcliffe added: “Local Councils up and down the country are crying out for better funding for services. Adult social care and children’s social care now account for over 50 per cent of out spending and the demand is increasing all the time. Government cannot ignore this.

““In spite of the many constraints caused by the cuts, our staff continue to deliver high-quality public services.

“They deserve praise for their continued commitment in what are trying circumstances.”

She said the Council was still aiming for growth despite the cuts, and hopes Bradford will be in a better place in the coming years thanks to a number of projects, including the development of New College Bradford in the city centre, a £9.8 million road improvement project on Hard Ings Road in Keighley, Bradford Live (the former Odeon), the redevelopment of Forster Square Station and a new city centre market on Darley Street.

She also pointed out that more houses were now being built in the district than at any point since 2008. Of the new housing, 51 per cent was on previously developed land.

The draft budget will be discussed by the Council’s Executive next Tuesday, after which it will go out to consultation until January 27. The Executive meets at 10.30am in City Hall.