Your say / Politics
‘We are doing all we can to set a balanced budget and prioritise low income households’
As the leader of Bristol City Council, I wanted to provide an overview of where we are with the budget setting process.
Many of you will be aware of the serious financial challenges we face and, as we are now reaching an important phase of the process, I wanted to keep you informed and reassured that we are doing all we can to set a balanced budget and prioritise low income households.
Many of you will have also seen that last week we published the long list of potential savings options to cover the £52m in-year budget gap we face.
is needed now More than ever
This budget will provide the money which the council has to spend for the next financial year (April 2025 to March 2026).
These have been developed by a number of sources including senior council officers, the council workforce in general and elected councillors – both policy chairs and individual elected members.
The context – austerity and mismanagement
Firstly, it is important to remind ourselves of the context in which these proposals have been developed.
At the heart of our financial situation is a long list of failures under the previous Labour administration, compounded by the austerity agenda of the previous Conservative government which has starved local authorities of funds, and an increase in demand for some of the vital services that the council provides.
Crucially, under the previous Labour administration debts and deficits were pushed into the future for other people to deal with. We are all now living in that future.
For example, repeated failures to deliver in-year savings have added escalating pressures to each year’s budget, while using reserves to plug revenue gaps weakened the council’s financial viability year after year.
This was, and remains, financially unsustainable, and many of the savings proposals that you may have seen are needed now in order to provide better services and sustainable finances in the future.
Unfortunately, we are now left with the legacy of these multiple failures, and to address them we must take difficult decisions today, and deliver on them.
A more transparent approach
We promised a step-change in how things were done by the council under Labour, and one part of that was a commitment to openness and transparency.
That’s why the savings options were shared with members of the cross-party finance sub-committee before being published more widely.
The savings options that have been published, will now be considered by the finance sub-committee this week.
The relevant officers, policy committee chairs and I will also be in attendance to respond to any queries and/or clarifications that elected members may have.
However, it is important to note that none of the options proposed have yet been adopted into the final budget. It remains the case that some of the options will not be taken forward, while others may be modified.
The public meetings of the finance sub-committee are also there for other councillors to listen and, where feasible, suggest changes to savings options based on this feedback.
The draft proposals will then go to the cross-party strategy & resources policy committee for approval to go to the budget full council for adoption.
As in previous years, all councillors will have another opportunity to amend the draft budget when it is submitted to full council.
This collaborative approach allows all parties to be involved in the process, but also regrettably gives fuel to those who refuse to work collaboratively and would much rather share scare stories than find solutions.
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Read more: ‘The Green Party’s budget proposals target Bristol’s worst-off’
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How the council is funded
Contrary to some claims, there has not been a “record breaking” settlement from the new Labour government for Bristol City Council. Positive changes in some areas have been offset by negative changes in others.
In fact our “core spending power” this year was increased by just 7.7 per cent, which does not meet the increase in demand, and is less than either of the last two previous years under a Conservative government (9.1 per cent and 10.2 per cent).
Bristol’s settlement is the lowest of all of the Core Cities, while our core spending power per head of population is lower than all but one of the other Core Cities.
If our core spending power was raised to the average level we would have an additional £38m of funding and the budget setting process would be considerably less painful for all concerned. But instead, we are having to cut our cloth accordingly.
Funding from central government is vital to the council’s ability to deliver on its spending commitments, but more than half of Bristol City Council’s core spending power of £551m will now come from council tax paid by Bristol residents (£300m).
This ever-increasing reliance on council tax to fund local services, especially at a time when many households are facing a cost of living crisis, makes the situation even more concerning for local councils.
For Bristol, it is imperative that we find a sustainable strategy for supporting low-income households.
Despite Bristol’s reputation as a relatively wealthy city, all of us are aware that it contains some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country.
Many households are simply unable to pay their council tax, whilst others are struggling to manage their debts and getting into arrears.
This has contributed to a substantial increase in unpaid council tax owed to the council. Understandably, many residents are asking why they should have to pay ever-more while the council is not collecting unpaid council tax and other debts.
At the same time the council has a responsibility to often-vulnerable residents to not place further pressure on what are already extremely stressful financial situations.
Finding a way to maximise our collection of unpaid council tax whilst also supporting low-income households is a major challenge for the council.
This is why we will be setting up a cross-party group to work with external partners to find the best way forward that is both sustainable but also supports our most vulnerable households.
2025’s budget will be the first set under Bristol’s new committee system – photo: Rob Browne
All eyes on Starmer
To sum up, the council is facing increasing demand for increasingly complex services, while central government has repeatedly passed the funding gap onto local residents to make up via council tax.
We are working hard to balance the books in the way that does the least harm to the city we all care so much about.
The new Labour government has promised a renewed, more equal, relationship with local government, but so far we are yet to see any concrete solutions beyond one-off funding via the Recovery Grant.
Compounding the problem for Bristol, we’ve faced eight years of local Labour let-downs on top of government austerity.
Nevertheless, we look forward to the promised Comprehensive Spending Review and intend to work constructively with the new government alongside our other local authority partners to enable real change, including a multi-year financial settlement and a fairer funding arrangement.
We will also continue to lobby for fiscal devolution given the current reliance on local funding.
If the new government does not grasp the opportunity to reset the relationship with local government, it will have a detrimental effect on both the local and national economies, and we are likely to see local councils continue to declare themselves bankrupt, whilst you, the local residents, continue to bear the brunt of the costs.
This is an opinion piece by Tony Dyer, Green Party councillor for Southville and leader of Bristol City Council
Main photo: Rob Browne
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