Wigan Council set its budget for 2021/22

Wigan Council set its budget for 2021/22

Local government is no stranger to government cuts - in the last decade Wigan Council has had to make savings of £160m, representing 40 per cent of our overall budget. This has not been an easy task, and I must thank our staff and communities for helping us to achieve our ambitious savings target.

Through prudential financial planning and the success of The Deal, last year we were able to offer our first no-cuts budget for almost a decade.

Unfortunately, the pandemic has had a severe impact on our income and increased our expenditure. This is reflected in the significant adverse variance of £30.455m we are projecting over the next three years.

There continues to be significant pressure in both our adults and children’s social care services. Wigan has one of the fastest ageing populations in the UK, so in each year we need to find an additional £4m. In addition, the pandemic has put a significant amount of pressure on families and the number of children in care has doubled, leaving us with pressures of £17m.

Although we have been able to offer a freeze in general council tax for the past seven years, councils continue to face significant financial challenges and this year we are proposing to have a 0.99 per cent increase to help cover the deficit and deliver a balanced budget and to ensure we can continue to deliver vital services for residents.  

It is not a decision we take lightly but the funding settlement from central government relies heavily on councils raising tax bills by the maximum available to them.

This is in addition the three per cent rise as part of the government’s adult social care precept.

The 3.99 per cent rise in the borough, therefore, is lower than the 4.99 factored into the government’s calculations and we continue to have the lowest rate in Greater Manchester and one of the lowest rates nationally.

We were hoping that the Government’s Budget would include a commitment to addressing the increasing pressure in Adult Social Care, but this did not come to fruition. I will continue to urge central government in the strongest terms to reconsider their funding plans generally, but particularly in the social care sector where the onus should not be on council tax payers to foot the bill of rising demand. I will also urge government to think seriously about the levelling up agenda to ensure we get a good deal for our residents.  

As we approach the 12-month anniversary of the first lockdown it’s important we take time to reflect and recover. Council staff, our public sector partners, community groups and volunteers have worked incredibly hard to keep residents safe and services running and for that we are incredibly grateful. Our residents have demonstrated their resilience with kindness, compassion, and a strong sense of community spirit.

As soon as it is safe to do so, our efforts will turn to helping the borough recover from the impact of the pandemic. Our recovery plan will be instrumental in helping us build back fairer to ensure nobody is left behind.