At Budget Council on Monday 26 February Calderdale Council’s Cabinet budget was approved. The budget prioritises protecting the most vulnerable and delivering good quality statutory services.
The Council is legally required to set a balanced budget each year and has already found savings which now amount to over £125m per year since 2010.
Although the Council’s financial position has improved since the Medium Term Financial Plan was published last autumn, the Council is still forecasting a deficit in each of the next three financial years to 2026/27.
This forecast is based on the likely impacts of the economic situation on the Council, including:
- higher contract costs as contract prices are linked to national inflation rates;
- ongoing impacts on levels of income through fees and charges affected by the cost-of-living crisis;
- providing adequately for pay inflation, and
- energy costs still being affected by higher rates.
Additional money is also needed in children’s and adults’ social care in response to rising costs and demand.
During the consultation following the publication of the Cabinet’s budget proposals, the Council received over 1500 responses to the consultation questionnaire and over 1400 detailed comments from members of the public and Elected Members.
In response the Cabinet recognised that things are very difficult for children with special educational needs and their parents and so will not reduce the funding for inclusion, wraparound and holiday childcare this year. This will provide time for a further review of the many complex issues around special educational needs.
Many people were concerned by savings to the Council’s preventative work with young people both within the Targeted Youth Work Team and the Youth Justice Team. To try to lessen the impact of this the level of savings required has been reduced in 2025/6 and 2026/7.
The consultation also highlighted opposition in the community to the closing of the Elland Household Waste Recycling Centre. No final decision on the future of the site will now be taken until the end of the year when the effectiveness of the resident permit scheme can be assessed.
Cllr Tim Swift, the Deputy Leader of Calderdale Council said:
“My colleagues on Cabinet and I would like to thank everyone who took the time to contribute to the consultation. Your feedback was greatly appreciated, we carefully considered the responses and made changes to the proposals which we presented at Budget Council.
“The expectation on local authorities to maintain a wide range of important services for local residents, at the same time as demand for specialist and crisis interventions for the most vulnerable continues to rise, makes the allocation of limited funds increasingly difficult. We are already spending 70% of the Council’s budget on adults’ and children’s social care.
“Despite these challenges we have balanced the books. We have tried to do ‘more with less’ over the last 13 years but this is unsustainable. Inevitably we have to look at reducing services that we are not legally required to provide. We have no choice but to make some tough decisions.”
Wherever possible the Cabinet has tried to minimise the impact of savings on communities, aiming to:
- make the budget balance and keep decision-making local;
- meet all legal and statutory obligations;
- mitigate inequality as much as possible;
- be ambitious for Calderdale;
- enhance quality of life;
- keep residents safe;
- protect services where possible;
- remain focussed on tackling climate change;
- bring investment into the borough and
- be honest about what we can and cannot do.
To protect and maintain vital public services the budget will increase Council Tax by 4.99%. This includes a Council Tax increase of 2.99% in line with the limit set by Government and an additional 2% Social Care Precept to help fund and protect social care services to vulnerable adults and children.
These increases are expected of the Council by the Government when it is calculating how much funding the local authority will receive within its financial settlement.
Full details of the approved budget are available at www.calderdale.gov.uk
ENDS