A COUNCIL leader has issued a plea to Government to consider “urgent” extra funding to address pressures on her authority before the Finance Settlement for councils is confirmed.

Leader of Calderdale Council, Coun Jane Scullion, says the provisional allocation for Calderdale is 5.9 per cent – less than the Government’s announcement just before Christmas that councils’ core spending would increase by 6.5 per cent.

As a result, if this does not change when the House of Commons confirms the settlement for local authorities in 2024-25, it is estimated by the council it will leave Calderdale with £655,000 less spending power for the coming year than its forecast in the Medium-Term Financial Plan in November 2023, said Coun Scullion (Lab, Luddenden Foot).

And this increase assumes the council will increase Council Tax to the maximum level possible of 4.99 per cent – this includes the two per cent per cent allowed which is ring-fenced for social care.

The council already needs to save around £11 million next year to balance the books, councillors heard last autumn.

Coun Scullion said urgent action needs to be taken to support communities, and unprecedented cost and demand pressures must be fully addressed.

“We are over half a million pounds worse off than expected.

“We urgently need more funding from national Government to give our communities the support they need, and we urge them to give further consideration to the serious pressures on council services and escalating demand.

“We will be calling for this in our response to the Local Government Finance Settlement consultation, before the final allocations are confirmed nationally in the next few weeks,” she said.

Coun Scullion said in February councillors needed to set a balanced budget for the financial year ahead.

“Government funding keeps reducing in real terms and is not keeping up with the rising costs we face.

“We are more reliant than ever on Council Tax as our main source of income.

“We have some really difficult decisions to make to close our £11.7 million funding gap – decisions that will affect the services our communities rely on every day, despite the amazing work our council has done to reduce costs over the past decade.

“The rapidly increasing demand for our services, especially in social care for children and adults, means we will have to do more with less, having already lost £110 million from our budgets and a third of our workforce since 2010,” said Coun Scullion.

The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement informs the budget proposals that Calderdale Council’s Cabinet will consider when it meets on Monday, January 15.

The council’s annual budget consultation will start after that meeting and will give local people the chance to comment within 28 days.

The budget will be agreed at the annual Budget Council meeting on Monday, February 26.