Our financial situation
Protecting vital services and supporting residents
Funding risk facing the council
The Government is currently considering how it will fund local councils for the next three years and is proposing a formula that would see us facing even more significant financial challenges.
Under the Government’s proposed formula, we would be one of many councils with an effective real-terms funding decrease that would hit local services.
The proposals could see almost £50 million of Wokingham Borough council tax effectively redistributed to other areas over the next three years.
This would push the borough’s savings challenge from just over £10 million to more than £30 million, despite the council already being one of the lowest funded in the country.
Our call is for a minimum basic annual increase of four per cent per year for all councils to provide a safety net that would protect local communities against the worst impact of the formula.
What the Government is proposing and what we are calling for
The Government is proposing a single formula to calculate how much money each council will receive per year for the next three years.
The formula is complex and includes many factors but is based on principle of redistributing funding to areas of greater deprivation.
Unlike previous Government formula, there is no proposed ‘funding floor’ – a minimum basic increase that protects all councils from losing out too much.
This has led to extreme variation between councils set to gain and councils set to lose out.
We are arguing (along with other councils) that no single formula can be perfect and so protection is needed for those who come out worst.
We believe a four per cent annual increase overall is the minimum that will protect councils from real term funding cuts that would otherwise threaten services and even the financial stability of many councils.
What could happen if we are not successful
The best way to imagine the potential impact is to think about £50 million of your Council Tax effectively being taken away for use elsewhere.
That is a simplification but is in effect what is happening.
We don’t know yet what this would mean to local services but there would certainly be an impact.
Why we are asking for support rather than consulting on specific budget proposals now
We had said we’d be consulting you about specific budget proposals at this time, but we can’t do that because we are not sure what funding we will get and we are still arguing for a change from the Government.
Once we know what our funding will be we will consult on how we make the savings needed.
But now, we need support to minimise the risks.
Support our calls for fair funding
If you support a minimum funding increase to protect vital services in top tier councils (those who are responsible for adults and children’s social care), we just want your agreement to add you to our list.
