Wokingham Borough Council will need to find an additional £3.5 million in revenue or savings next year as a direct result of last week’s autumn budget statement.
As arguably the town’s top employer, the council is not immune from the national insurance and minimum wage increases that are set to be introduced by the Labour government.
Imogen Shepherd-DuBey, Wokingham Borough Council’s executive member for finance and governance, told Wokingham Today: “All local councils are struggling financially at the moment, and Wokingham Borough Council is no different.
“This is largely due to the needs in our community, which are growing at a pace which cannot be met through the funding that we currently receive – along with the inflationary costs of running those services.
“Each year we receive a Government grant to help fund our services, but the amount for next year will not be known until mid-way through December.
“It will also be based on assumptions about our council tax income, and levels of deprivation in the area which fail to reflect actual local demand for support, and that traditionally see us receiving the lowest government grant per head of population.
“We will continue to press our case for the fairer funding that we really need to meet our escalating spending pressures.
“The autumn budget statement does little to address our concerns, and we will see our costs increase by £1.5 million for National Insurance, and an additional £2 million for care cost pressures associated with the increase in the minimum wage.
“This means we now have to find at least an additional £3.5 million, next year – just to simply to stand still.
“This is something which is unsustainable in the long term, and puts further pressure on us when it comes to just being able to provide the support that our residents need.”
She added her concerns about the wider impact on local businesses in the borough, who will also be affected by these rising national insurance contributions and the increased minimum wage costs.
“This will no doubt affect everyone in ways that we cannot completely quantify at this point in time.”
