Counties warn budget cuts could hamper post-Covid recovery

Just one in five county councils are confident of setting a balanced budget next year without dramatic cuts to frontline services, according to a new survey.

The survey by the County Councils Network (CCN), comes as the network warns it could hamper their efforts to continue to tackle the spread of coronavirus.

Just one in five (22%) respondents said they are ‘confident’ they can deliver a balanced budget next year without ‘dramatic’ reductions to services.

Confidence drops further in 2022/23, with just one local authority confident of setting a balanced budget the following financial year.

Roughly a third of councils say that they have no scope for savings in libraries, bus subsidies, and school transport because these services have already been reduced to minimum levels.

However, for those that have not, 33% plan moderate or severe cuts to libraries and 24% say the same severity of reductions is planned for bus route subsidies.

And just under a third of councils (29%) say that they will plan ‘moderate or severe reductions’ to road repairs and pothole filling.

As a result, half of respondents said that this would lead to a further deterioration of local roads.

When asked about the current pandemic, two-thirds (68%) said they will not be able to invest in supporting the economic recovery, and as a result, the same number said it would impact on their efforts to assist local recovery efforts.

In total, 60% of councils said service reductions mixed with council tax increases next year would result in greater economic hardship for residents.

CCN chairman Cllr David Williams said local authorities are quickly running out of ways to meet the funding shortfall without’ dramatic reductions which will make visible and damaging changes’ to services.

‘Councils have pulled out all the stops throughout this pandemic to protect residents, maintain vital services and support the economic recovery,’ said Cllr Williams.

‘To ensure that they can continue to do whatever it takes over the winter to combat coronavirus and to prevent severe reductions to services next year, they need a significant increase in funding for 2021/22, alongside an income guarantee to protect against losses in council tax.’

Photo Credit – Geralt (Pixabay)