Failure to make the necessary savings would lead to the council issuing a Section 114 notice “within the next 18 months to two years,” resources director Rob Manning said at a meeting yesterday, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
Waltham Forest Council will need to make £23million in cuts over the next three years to avoid doom, financial chiefs say.
The town hall’s budget for 2025/26 will involve cuts to free parking, job openings, and the amount being spent on agency workers.
It also involves a 4.99% hike in council tax, which will mean around a £100 annual increase for residents in an average band-D property.
Failure to make the necessary savings would lead to the council issuing a Section 114 notice “within the next 18 months to two years,” resources director Rob Manning said.
Councils issue such notices when they have gone effectively bankrupt. Though local authorities cannot go bankrupt in a commercial sense, they can declare their income will fall short of its spending.
At that point, the government would appoint stringent commissioners to take control of the town hall and cut any spending they deem superfluous.
Speaking at a budget scrutiny meeting on 18th February, Manning said the budget contained “no surprises”. In June last year, council leader Grace Williams warned that “tough decisions” were needed to keep the authority afloat.
The biggest pressure on the Labour-run council is temporary accommodation, councillors were told.
Manning said the 1,587 families in temporary accommodation was “unprecedented,” while chief executive Linzi Roberts-Egan said the impact on both residents and the council’s coffers was “grave”.
The reserves have also been substantially depleted since April last year, the committee heard. The pot has shrunk from £91.7m to around £55.7m, and the council is predicting it will go down to £46.7m by next year.
Ursula Gamble, the council’s finance director, said the town hall had “done reasonably well” with the £99.9m in funding allocated by the government.
However, she added that Waltham Forest’s council tax base was “very important” considering the borough is largely residential. Inner London boroughs can rely more heavily on business rates, whereas Waltham Forest cannot.
Prior to presenting the budget for scrutiny, Waltham Forest councillors voted to reduce its council tax support scheme.
Under the new policy, thousands of low-income residents – who currently pay as little as 15% of their council tax – will pay up to 43%.
The town hall has also scrapped free parking across the borough, which it hopes will generate more than £1.5m in revenue.
However, residents particularly in Chingford said removing the free 15-minute window would severely harm businesses.
Councillors have also backed closing the Markhouse Centre for disabled adults to reduce outgoings – and move towards “people-based services” – but the plans have stalled. After the council was challenged on the veracity of its independent assessments, it will go back before the cabinet in March.
The 2025/26 budget has not yet been approved and will need to be formally signed off by elected councillors on 27th February.
Any changes to council tax will come into effect from 1st April.
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