Nottingham City Council sets balanced budget using emergency financial support
Loxley House in Station Street, where Nottingham City Council is based
By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
Nottingham City Council has set a balanced budget for the upcoming year through the use of emergency measures.
The Labour-run authority had been anticipating a £69m black hole in its budget for the year beginning April 2025, before a raft of savings and cuts were proposed.
In total, £17.9m in savings will be delivered over the next year, and another £24m are planned over the next four years.
Among the plans are reviews of adult social care services, including “high-cost” care packages, as well as back office savings, including the “streamlining of layers of management and team sizes”.
Council tax will also increase by the maximum amount allowed at 4.99 per cent.
Council house tenants’ rent will also rise by 2.7 per cent, while service charges will go up a further two per cent. The authority says most rent increases will be covered by housing benefits.
But the remaining budget gap of £20.79m will be met using Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) – an accounting mechanism which allows the council to use money from property and land sales for day-to-day costs.
During a Full Council meeting on Monday (March 3) all Labour councillors who were present approved the budget – but it was described as “flawed”.
Cllr Steve Battlemuch (Lab), who represents Wollaton West and previously sat on the authority’s ruling executive, said using EFS to set a budget is “akin to someone drowning in the River Trent, being thrown a float, but not being rescued”.
“Setting a budget should be a time for joy, a time for hope and aspiration, but unfortunately this is the thirteenth year I have voted on a budget and none of them brought me any joy or hope,” he said.
“It is another year where our income doesn’t cover our expenditure, so we have got to get a top-up pay-day loan from the Government.
“For all the people outside the city and the naysayers inside, this is not Nottingham city in trouble again, we are one of 30 councils in this position. This is despite additional funding we’ve had from Government.
“Our day-to-day services will continue to suffer. We should be continuing to press our Government for more, while obviously improving services through better technology and innovation.
“Why am I voting for a budget that I think is flawed? The choices aren’t great, but if I don’t vote for it I will be suspended by the Labour Group.
“If I for one moment thought me voting against this budget would stop the cuts then I would do it.”
Speaking after the meeting, council deputy leader Ethan Radford (Lab) said: “We have moved away from the kinds of savings we have made in the past, where it has been a lot of front-line services.
“You look at the savings we have just agreed at council, a lot of this is back-office efficiencies. It isn’t fair the taxpayer and most in need in the city bear the brunt of the worst decisions that we have. As a council we need to get our house in order.”
On expected job losses through the restructure of team sizes, Cllr Radford added: “We are not going for an artificial figure. We are going to review the services that we provide and actually see how best we can shape those services to deliver positive outcomes.”
The council is still overseen by a team of three Government-appointed commissioners, brought in to ensure the council returns to financial stability
Lead commissioner, Tony McArdle, said the authority has made “significant strides in reversing their decline and starting to implement much-needed transformation”.
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