Wokingham borough council has said it is facing a difficult financial future following the announcement of the Government’s provisional financial settlement – which sets out how much money it will be giving councils over the next three years from 2026/27 onwards.
Details are still being analysed but it is clear that, despite already having been among the worst Government-funded councils for many years, we have been hit by stark real-term funding cuts in the latest deal.
The settlement will increase the council’s savings challenge over the three-year period by about £20 million – to about £30 million.
More than 3,000 residents joined a call on the Government to provide a minimum funding increase safety net that would have protected services. Despite some changes to the funding formula, our immediate situation has not notably improved.
The council is looking at the figures closely and will be producing a special edition of its Residents’ Round-up in January to explain the implications in more detail.
Speaking to Wokingham Today after raising the issue in the House of Commons, MP Clive Jones said: “I am deeply disappointed that the Minister failed to answer any of the three specific questions I put to her. That avoidance speaks volumes.
“The Government cannot continue to ignore the severe financial pressures facing local authorities like Wokingham Borough Council, particularly in funding adult social care and children’s services.
“While I welcome the announcement of a multi-year settlement, which in principle should allow councils to plan ahead, it does not go far enough.
“Local council finances remain debilitated by spiralling social care, SEND and homelessness costs – pressures that are the direct result of years of Conservative neglect.
“Wokingham is the lowest-funded unitary authority in the country, and yet the Government has yet again failed to deliver the adequate and substantial reform to local government funding that is urgently needed to meet the demands placed upon it.”
Wokingham Borough Labour group leader Cllr Rachel Burgess welcomed the provisional local government funding figures published by the Labour government..
She said: “For the last six months the Liberal Democrats and Wokingham borough council have made alarmist claims stating repeatedly that the borough’s grant funding gap would be £50 million.
“This has led to proposals for cuts ranging from bins to elections, in order to find savings.
“They even suggested, falsely, that £50m Wokingham council tax would be redistributed elsewhere, something that was never on the table.
“This falsehood was feverishly repeated by the Conservatives.
“Despite the council saying they had no money, in recent years they were actually able to squirrel away £16 million.”
The new three-year settlement means the council knows exactly how much it will be receiving from the government, meaning the council can plan effectively over the medium term.
“With their scaremongering, the Liberal Democrats have seriously damaged their credibility as trusted sources of information.
“They will have to work hard to re-establish that trust.”
