By John Baron
Leeds City Council yesterday released its initial budget proposals for next year, and is looking to deliver approximately £106.4 million of further savings.
As reported by WLD, the decision could lead to the closure of Abbey House Museum in Kirkstall – due to dwindling attendances in recent years – as it faces what it says is ‘unprecedented’ strain on its finances. Job losses, building closures and a council tax rise of almost five per cent are also being considered by the authority.
A decision on the future of closure-threatened Pudsey Civic Hall – originally mooted 12 months ago – is yet to be taken, and the council is also undertaking a review into possible savings and profits to be made from the city’s bowling greens. The last review into bowling greens was in 2011.
Councils are required by law to have a balanced budget each financial year and provide “best value” to residents. But more and more councils are finding it harder to do so.
Leeds is not alone in its financial challenges. According to the BBC last year – there is an eye-watering black hole in town hall budgets across the UK of some £5 billion.
Thirteen section 114 notices have been issued to councils since 2018 – compared to just one before, in the year 2000. A section 114 notice is where a where a council is, in effect, about to go bankrupt – they can’t commit to any new spending, and must come back with a new budget within 21 days that falls in their spending envelope. Bradford was very close to this last December.
Increased service costs
Although it’s not yet at the stage of issuing a section 114 notice, Leeds, like councils across the country, faces significantly increased costs in 2025/26 to provide services amid rising demand, especially in social care for vulnerable children and adults.
Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor James Lewis said: “The large increase in demand for many services, particularly social care, means we need to take action to ensure we meet our legal requirement to balance the council’s budget each year.
“Around 60 per cent of the council’s budget is spent on social care in Leeds, and the increase in council tax helps towards this. We expect to receive further detail on national initiatives to support local government towards the end of December.”
Increased costs are especially being seen in supporting looked after children, especially the most vulnerable with high levels of need requiring costly external placements, as well as for adult social care with increases in demand for older people, adults with learning difficulties and those needing support with mental health.
Coun Lewis added: “We’ve seen the costs of private sector external residential placements go through the roof.
“Government inquiries have shown it is in many cases companies making really excessive profits.”
In Leeds in the last four years the costs associated with looking after children in external residential care has risen by 75 per cent, from £68million to £119million this year. The average cost of an external residential placement has gone up by 45 per cent since 2021/22 to currently £6,300 per week or £340,000 per year for each child being cared for. Costs for those children with especially complex needs, however, can be up to £1million per year per child.
In adult social care, the number of working age adults and older people being supported has increased by 20 per cent in the last three years, and the overall demand budget for these groups has risen by £100m in the same period.
Of the overall £106.4million savings required in the council’s proposed budget for 2025/26, £23.8m were already built into the financial strategy, £37.4m of proposals were considered by the council’s executive board at its October meeting, and a further £45.3m are being put forward for consideration this month to achieve the balanced budget legally required each year of all councils.
Funding decrease
With costs of providing some services increasing, councils have been affected by a systemic problem with local government financing. Over the last 14 years, the amount of money that central government gives to local government has reduced by more than 40%.
The way in which local government is funded has also changed over the last 14 years. In 2010 councils used to get around most of their money from central government, but now they get most from local sources.
That includes council tax, retained business rates, and charges for services like parking, swimming pools, and planning applications. It also includes making commercial investments, which is where some councils have got into difficulty.
Additional funding from central government can also come through competitive funding bids, but all this means that funding is now largely based on local economic factors, rather than an area’s need.
Yes, but you can afford footbridges and cycle lanes…?
It’s often pointed out by commenters on social media that tens of millions is spent on large infrastructure projects in Leeds, like the Connecting West Leeds improvements on the Outer Ring Road, including a new footbridge to better link Farsley and Calverley.
But these are often predominantly funded by central Government from very specific and non transferable funding pots set out by Whitehall. The council is asked to bid for the different pots.
For instance, £20m of the council-led Connecting West Leeds work is funded by the Government’s Levelling Up Fund following a successful bid, with the remaining £3.257m being provided by West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
There is, however, some deserved criticism for the city council ploughing £6m into the Leeds 2023 culture project, which had a mixed response. The local authority maintains the year-long series of events triggered an additional £20m worth of private investment.
Council cuts
Yesterday’s budget announcement said council assets and services are being continuously assessed and reviewed to see how they can help mitigate the financial position. The council has also enacted a freeze on recruitment, as well as on non-essential spending except where necessary for health and safety or statutory reasons.
The initial budget proposals to deliver the additional savings required next year include the following specific service areas to be reviewed:
- Non-statutory grants across adults and health services
- In-house care delivery service and day opportunities buildings
- Impact of a preventative programme in adult social care services
- Passenger transport in social care
- Transport savings in children and families services
- Savings around reducing numbers of children in Leeds care system, providing ‘right provision for the right time’ support
- Children’s centres in Leeds and more integration in local services
- Possible leasing out of Middleton Leisure Centre
- Potential introduction of ‘pay as you feel’ admission charges at city centre museums and galleries sites
- Closure of Abbey House Museum
- Community committees and locality working
- Consultation on possible savings and income around bowling green provision
- Print and sign services
The impact of the savings being put forward in December is an estimated reduction of 243 budgeted full-time equivalent posts in the council, with a continued commitment to trade union consultation to avoid, reduce and mitigate the needs for compulsory redundancies. However, given the size of the financial challenge for 2025/26 the council may find itself in a position where compulsory redundancies cannot be avoided.
Beyond next year, the council is provisionally expecting to need to find further savings of £35.2million in 2026/27 and £29.6million in 2027/28.
The initial budget proposals for 2025/26 will be considered by the council’s executive board on Wednesday 11 December before going out for consultation with the public, partners and stakeholders.
Final proposals will be presented in the new year to be discussed and voted on by full council in February.
The initial budget and savings proposals report can be seen at here (agenda item 13).
WLD Cutswatch
Follow WLD’s ongoing Cutswatch series, which is chronicling local government cuts in West Leeds – including the sale of council assets and service cuts – here.
Because we are governed by people who’s only talents are manipulation, and party propoganda machines.
Best we get is flood defences and maybe a corporate sponsor every now and again.
Party Councillors have vested interests in being as sterile and silo’d as possible in order to advance up their party hierarchy in order to have a chance at being selected as an MP or being placed in the high-paying portfolio/cabinet positions at Leeds City Council.
Meanwhile the Labour Party does nothing but attack other parties and never adopting any policies or motions from different parties or independents.
Thus this creates a self-perperuating cycle of mediocrity, staffed by weirdos who have no idea how to run businesses and have delayed social skills (most councillors/mps are weirdos with really poor social skills/lack of charisma
So you end up with most councillors just turning up, not reading anything, and voting whichever way their party tells them or voting for whatever the vested interest they /the party needs the backing of wants.
There are literally money backhanders and free (undeclared) meals given to councillors or council staff at events or people’s houses which are used to manipulate the decision making process of our councils.
This isn’t just a Leeds thing, or even just a Labour party thing. It’s systemic and our entire democracy is based on branding, marketing, and idiot voters believing their particular party are the “goodies” as if Democracy and Plitics and Government and Public Administration was a game of football.
That’s part of the reason why, but ask a Labour Bot and they’ll blame “14 years the tories black ‘ole freeze the pensioners” or ask a Conservative and they’ll just waffle on about “Covid or Ukraine”, ask a ReformUK’er and they’ll “blame people with different skin”, ask a green-eco-hysteric-zealot and they’ll say “climate change, destroy our economy”
And the lib dems are an even bigger joke.
Meanwhile the people of Leeds in this part of Yorkshire get less and less while paying more and more.
I’m sure nothing bad will happen as these trends continue and people become even more dispossessed and poorer and more controlled-
tbh people will just probably retreat to watching more stupid telly, flashy video games, or listening to idiots on the radio.
Song suggestion for anyone who read this far- Blowing in the wind, by Bob Dylan. Great relaxing tune for these times we live in, cos by gum they are a changing.