Wigan Council is one of the largest local authorities in the country, with more than 139,000 residential properties and a yearly gross budget of over £740m. The Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review promised to ‘give financial freedom’ to Local Authorities so they can decide themselves how to spend far more of their money but also delivered a 28% cut in council budgets over four years.
Council leaders are now going through a rigorous process of identifying where the most severe cuts in a generation will fall. We have to be honest about the impact of these budget cuts. There are tough times ahead and we must work together with the communities we serve and staff who work for the Council to meet the challenges we face head-on.
