Nottingham City Council is planning to raise council tax by the maximum amount allowed and review parking charges across the city due to a funding gap of more than £30 million next year. The authority has released its proposed financial plan for the next four years and despite the significant cuts, the council says they are still not enough to balance its books next year.
The new savings planned for next year are so far are worth £29 million and they include reviewing fees and charges at car parks, leisure centres and museums, withdrawing the wheelchair hire service at the Victoria Centre and stopping the collection of household bins put out on the wrong day.
Changes to adult social care are also being planned, including more independent living support instead of residential or nursing care, as well as the cutting of 110 jobs at Nottingham City Council. Meanwhile, the authority is also proposing to increase tariffs for EnviroEnergy customers, review the grants it gives to community groups and mothball two floors at its Loxley House headquarters.
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Soaring inflation and a rising demand for homelessness services are among the factors behind the council's funding gap for the next financial year, which runs from April 2023 until April 2024. But the authority says a "significant driver" for the budget gap is increasing pay for its staff, with pay packets next year now predicted to rise by 4%.
As well as the £29 million of savings made, Nottingham City Council is also planning to hike council tax to cover its funding gap. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his budget that local councils would now be able to increase council tax by 4.99% without a referendum, and Nottingham City Council is planning to do so for the next two years.
The authority then plans to raise council tax by 2% for the following two years. Across the four-year period of its financial plan, which overall covers the period from April 2023 until April 2027, Nottingham City Council says that its plan will mean a budget surplus of £8.8 million.
But for next year alone, a funding gap of £3.2 million still exists and the council is therefore warning that further savings will still need to be found. That work will be taking place from now until a meeting of the authority's Executive Board next February, when an updated plan will be presented.
For now, the council's current plans will be discussed at a public Executive Board meeting on Tuesday (December 20) at Loxley House. Councillor Adele Williams, the council's deputy leader and portfolio holder for finance, said: "Most councils up and down the country are facing significant financial difficulties, and once again we are faced with some really difficult decisions about how we balance our budget next year.
"We have also looked in this budget process for ways in which we can become more efficient and effective with each pound we spend for Nottingham. Demand continues to grow for vital services such as adult social care, which now makes up over a third of the council's entire budget."
The council says that £10.3 million worth of the planned savings for next year will need to go out to public consultation, which is currently set to run from December 20 until January 25. The authority says it has had to make more than £300 million of savings to its budgets since 2010.
On the council tax rise specifically, Councillor Williams said it would equate to between £1.25 and £1.46 more per week for most people in the city. She added: "We have got to seriously consider the 5% council tax increase allowed by Government, even though this wouldn't raise enough to properly meet local needs, and it would sadly place a further burden on local people who we know are already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
"In this budget we have protected our ability to keep Nottingham communities safe with numbers of much-needed community protection officers not seen in other core cities. We have made sure that we will still be able to offer free events for families and a network of outstanding parks that will enable hard pressed Nottingham families to enjoy what they might otherwise struggle to afford to do."
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