Barking and Dagenham Council’s Cabinet will consider the latest report on the council’s finances when it meets on Tuesday 19 December.

The report comes ahead of the draft funding settlement for local government being announced by the government in the next week.[1]

Like many local authorities up and down the country, we are facing a severe squeeze on our finances. This has been caused by rising inflation, with increased costs for services, especially in children’s and adult services, and the cost of energy and utilities.

At the same time, Barking & Dagenham has high levels of deprivation and demand for services is growing as our residents have faced increasing hardship and financial insecurity following the pandemic and alongside another winter with a cost-of-living crisis with high prices. 

What councils like Barking & Dagenham need is fair funding. We have one of the fastest changing communities in the country today. Our population grew by almost 18% between 2011 to 2021, and 20,000 more children call Barking & Dagenham home than a decade ago. Unfortunately, funding provided by the government just isn’t matching this growth which means we are 40% down on our funding since 2010.  

Our already overstretched budget is being pushed to the edge, but we are acting to control it. We already run an efficient, low-cost council. Since 2010, we have made £175m of savings, and we will find more.

We need to make £11.6m in-year savings in this financial year, and around £23m savings in the next financial year (2024/25).

To bridge this gap, we are reviewing all our services and making sure we are getting value for money from every pound we spend.

This includes taking a number of measures to immediately reduce our spending, such as a pause on recruitment, making staff savings and stopping all non-essential spending.

We are also finding better, low-cost ways of delivering services, increasing income, and getting the best value from our assets. Later this month we will launch a budget consultation with residents to ask them their views.

This is a really difficult time for local government and, like all local authorities, we will need to make some tough decisions to balance our budget over the coming months. We will consider all options. Nothing is off the table.

However, we are clear that the way local councils are funded needs reform. That is why we are calling on the Government to provide fair funding so we can provide the services and support our residents need.

[1] The funding announcement is due to be made before the House of Commons goes into Recess on 19 December.