A £17m increase in Blackpool Council’s spending power next year has been welcomed by the council leader – but she warned it remains ‘impossible’ to turn the clock back on previous cuts.
The 9.1 per cent increase has been announced as part of the government’s Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement which is the annual determination of funding to local government from central government.
Coun Lynn Williams said the extra funding would help meet some of the pressures on the budget which mean there is forecast overspend of £7m at the end of the current financial year.
She said: “I welcome the increase in funding for next year, it will help meet some but not all of the pressures we face particularly in social care.
“We await the detail as to the funding for the National Insurance increases and whether this will compensate us fully, particularly in relation to externally commissioned services, such as adult social care.
“It is of course impossible for the government to rectify in one budget the funding injustice and cuts which Blackpool has faced over the last 14 years particularly given the financial mess and situation it inherited from the Conservative Government.
“It is a positive and helpful first settlement and I look forward to the much needed fair funding review.”
It has been announced core spending power will increase to £213.7m from £196m this year. As part of the settlement, social care funding will rise by 19 per cent to £26m in 2025/2026 — an increase of £4.2m.
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