Leader of the council reacts to the Spring Budget
Earlier today, the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced the Spring Budget for 2024.
Councillor Shaun Davies, Leader of Telford & Wrekin Council (Labour) said: “The cost of living crisis is still biting for many people and whilst the changes to national insurance announced today provide relief to some household budgets, the reality is that the continued squeeze on local government services will have a much bigger impact on people’s lives.
“Councils across the country are effectively going bankrupt. 1 in 5 have said that they could be in this position by the end of 2024 due to a lack of funding to keep key services running.
“At Telford & Wrekin Council, our annual budget has been cut by £156.9m since the start of the government’s austerity programme and we now spend £7 in every £10 of our day-to-day budget on providing vital social care services. The need for these services keeps rising and so do the costs of meeting these needs. No so-called ‘public sector productivity plan’ is going to address this. We need a long-term sustainable plan for funding social care.
“I welcome the extension of the household support fund, a campaign I've led nationally, but it's just for six short months. With this money we support almost 10,000 children. Our fight to keep this fund goes on.
“We will keep being creative in the way we provide cost-effective, quality services for our residents, but with no additional funding for local government in today’s Budget, and the pressure of meeting our social care responsibilities, the reality is that people will be left to pay more in council tax and get less.”
