London,
30
October
2018
|
16:05
Europe/London

Camden Council reaction to the Budget

Local government has a vital role to play in delivering high quality public services for local communities. The short-term funding announcements from the Budget do not solve the medium and long-term funding challenges facing councils and our communities.

“Camden Council’s funding from central government has been halved over the last eight years. Due to the government’s funding reductions continuing, together with increased demand and pressures on our services, we estimate that we will have to make budget reductions of a further £40 million over the next three years.

“As we move towards the Local Government Financial Settlement in December we again call on the Government to allocate the appropriate levels of funding that councils need to deliver services to our residents both now and in the future.”
Councillor Richard Olszewski, Cabinet Member for Finance & Transformation

Further information about Camden’s financial challenge:

Camden Council is proud to provide essential services that support our communities. We want to protect what makes Camden the great place it is.

But along with public services across London and the country, we are facing a huge financial challenge.

Since 2010 the government has cut our budget by 49% and we’ve had to save £169 million.

By 2022 we will have around £35 to 40 million less per year. That’s more than we spend each year on community safety, support for adults with mental health problems, and waste collection. We have to make savings over the next three years (2019 to 2022) to prepare for this.

Even with our history of careful money management, the combination of continued cuts and spending pressures, such as increased demand for services and the rising cost of living, means we cannot continue to make savings without this having an impact on vital services. We have done what we can to plug the gap, but there are just no easy choices left. 

In December 2018 we will publish proposals for how we plan to make the necessary savings.  To read more click here.