REDDITCH Borough Council has been left reeling following expectations that its central government grant is likely to be cut to zero earlier than it was first thought.
Rather than the cuts being made by the end of this Parliament in 2019/20, Redditch will lose all its Revenue Support Grant a year earlier in 2018/19 and the reductions in earlier years are worse than originally anticipated.
Plus, due to proposed new funding allocation – the Council will even have to contribute funds back to the Government in 2019/20.
This means a shortfall of £3.003m to that originally expected over the next four years.
Furthermores Government are consulting on proposals to change the system of New Homes Bonus payments which includes reducing the number of years that the Borough receives a payment for every new property from six to four years.
If these proposals are implemented it could further compound the pressures on Redditch Borough Council by another £2.098m.
Councillor John Fisher, responsible for Finance, said: “This announcement has left us reeling with a triple blow – it’s much worse than we feared, and we were expecting deep cuts.
“Our grant has already been cut by almost 50 per cent and now it will virtually disappear in just two years – before amazingly we’re now due to pay the government in 2019.
“To date, we have found millions of pounds of savings whilst protecting services through our Business Transformation process, but the government are giving Redditch a truly dreadful deal.
“We will continue to work to bridge this huge funding gap, as maintaining frontline services to our residents is our top priority.”
