National study by the BBC shows Blackpool residents are worst hit by council cuts

Research by the BBC Data Unit shows local authorities across the UK are struggling to balance the books, with the average council now facing a £33m predicted deficit by 2025/26 – a rise of 60 per cent from £20m two years ago.

Together, the 190 authorities surveyed in the BBC study said they would need to find £5.2bn to balance the books by April 2026 – even after making £2.5bn of cuts this year.

Local government union Unison has warned the crisis could mean some councils are unable to provide statutory services in future, such as adult social care.

Blackpool Council has had to make savings of £23m in the current financial year, meaning it is being forced to make the biggest savings per head of population in England of £166 per resident.

Measures taken to try and fill the funding gap include a 4.99 per cent increase in council tax this year, while nearly £10m has been taken from reserves to prop up the budget.

The council is calling on the government to adopt a more sustainable funding strategy for local authorities which does not rely on council tax.

Blackpool Council’s response

Coun Ivan Taylor, deputy leader of Blackpool Council, said: “When we set our budget with a gap of £23m we factored in the use of £10m of reserves.

“We said at the time that it was not a sustainable way forward and we would not be able to repeat it in the coming years.

“Our position remains the same, we need the Government to provide us with a long-term plan that allows us adequately prepare for the future and keep services running for our communities.

“Raising funds for services through council tax rises is not the solution. We did not want to increase council tax, it just adds to the burden our residents are already facing but we felt like we had no choice.

“A recent report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies has found significant discrepancies between relative levels of funding and estimated needs across the country.

“They estimate that Blackpool has the highest need for funding across the NHS, local government, police and public health.

“This is not a surprise to us but only serves to confirm what we already know. We need more funding, our residents need more funding and we need the Government to act.”

Blackpool has benefitted from other government funding in the last few years including £100m of Levelling Up Funding, and a £40m Town Deal.

Opposition leader

Coun Paul Galley, leader of the Conservatives on the council, said building a stronger economy was key to sustainable town hall finances.

He said: “Whilst the headline figure of savings amounting to £166 per person sounds dramatic, this is only relative to the revenue part of the budget and doesn’t take into account the capital investment grants received by Blackpool Council, worth almost £200m in the last 12 months.

“With reference to the reported £23m savings gap, Blackpool Council was almost £10m overspent on last year’s budget, most significantly in the high demand areas of children’s and adults’ social care

“This is one of the main reasons why the Blackpool Conservative Group voted against the two Labour-led pay rises for councillors this year, as the group felt that the council is not in a strong enough economic position to meet the cost.

“There is much talk of reforming the funding formula for local councils.

“I am keen to see a funding formula that includes funding settlements covering three year or even five year periods rather than the current one year plans, giving all councils a better basis on which to plan.

“It’s also important to remember that the government grant element of our budget now makes up less than a third of the total budget, with the other two thirds of income being raised locally here in Blackpool.

“It’s crucial therefore that our priority in Blackpool is to regenerate all parts of Blackpool, creating a successful diverse economy, allowing the council tax burden to fall equally across the town and not just on the existing council-tax paying base; allowing us to increase tax income without increasing the level of tax itself.

“Economic growth, better controls on costs from private suppliers to the council, as well as investing in renewable energy production are all things that we as a council can lead on and not only help the sustainability of the council but, crucially, underpin the economic transformation of Blackpool itself.”

Union’s warning

Mike Short, head of local government union Unison, warned: “As the government tightens the squeeze on local budgets, services either vanish or are scaled down dramatically.

“Cash-starved councils have had to go cap in hand to ministers for emergency support or raid already depleted reserves in a desperate attempt to balance the books.

“This is not a sustainable situation. Local authorities simply don’t have the funds to provide even statutory services.”

Government response

But the government dismissed the fears, saying decisions had yet to be made on funding for councils beyond 2024/25.

A spokesperson for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said: “Councils in England have benefitted from an increase in core spending oower of up to £5.1bn in 2023-24 compared to the previous year, with almost £60bn made available for local government overall.

“We are making up to £4.7bn available for the adult social care system in England in 2024-25 and have also confirmed an uplift to the revenue support grant, whilst setting out a core council tax referendum principle for 2024-25 of three per cent, plus a further two per cent for councils with adult social care responsibilities.”