Lack Of Government Support Is 'Slap In The Face' For Sussex Residents As 2024 Local Budgets Set

Councillors in Brighton and Lewes have described next year's finance settlements for local councils as 'desperately disappointing' and a 'slap in the face' for residents.

The Leader of Lewes District Council has accused the government of ‘ripping the heart out of local services’ after the finance settlement for councils was confirmed this week.

Inflation, the cost of living crisis and temporary accommodation placements due to rising homelessness have left councils across the UK struggling to balance their budgets.

The calls on the government for additional support have increased, yet the Autumn Statement and now the finance settlement have offered little to address the widening gap in funding.

Councillor Zoe Nicholson, said:

“The government doesn’t appear to care that their chronic underfunding of local authorities is hitting vulnerable residents more than anyone else.

“We have done so much over recent years to help people through the covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis, but our resources to continue this support are stretched like never before.

“While the finance settlement is the latest slap in the face for residents, I am determined that whatever measures we are forced to take, we will not cut frontline services.”

The council will set the budget, including the council tax for 2024/25 in February, but have confirmed that increases in fees and charges for discretionary services are now inevitable.  Among these changes, the current annual cost (£70) of collecting garden waste will increase by £10 next year.

Councillor Nicholson added:

“Any increase in prices is unwelcome, especially now.  But we must prioritise our core services and ensure we can still find ways to help those in most need. 

“Councillors from all political parties and all areas of the UK are saying the same thing, the current funding arrangements are not sustainable.

“The government appears intent on ripping the heart out of local services and unconcerned about the consequences their actions will ultimately have.”

In Brighton, council deputy leader and finance lead Jacob Taylor has described the local government funding announcement as ‘desperately disappointing’.

Councillor Taylor said:

“This new announcement from the government falls disastrously short of meeting the huge inflationary costs and demand pressures facing the council next year.  

“In the last 13 years, the government has slashed the council’s budget by £120 million in real terms.  

“We are in a period of very high inflation and growing demands for council services and homelessness support driven by the cost-of-living crisis.  

“Far from solving our problems, this announcement means the council is now left with a funding gap of £33 million for next year’s budget.  

“We now know that the government’s promised minimum 3% uplift for local authorities will in fact be funded by top-slicing money from other local authorities.

“Our council will lose £1.6m in order to fund this promise.

“The council’s finances are in an extremely perilous position. There is nothing here to provide relief for this council or other local authorities who have faced a decade of central government austerity or any real-world financial help for struggling families.

“We’re doing everything we can to reduce inequality and tackle poverty and homelessness. But this desperately disappointing announcement means we will have to find millions more in savings next year.

“Not only that, but the government’s Autumn Statement was the latest ever announced – and this is the sixth one-year financial settlement in a row, giving local authorities no time to plan or manage this.

“It means we will have to take some urgent and extremely difficult decisions in the coming weeks to protect essential services.

“To put it bluntly, the less money we have the fewer services we can provide."