Bucks Council Leader calls for increased local authority support
It's as Labour's first Autumn Budget in 14 years will be announced today
In anticipation of today’s budget announcement, Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, has called on the government to prioritise funding for essential local services.
Some announcements have already been made this week, with a full budget plan to be outlined around midday.
One of those is a rise to the minimum wage set at £12.21 an hour next year after, a 6.7% increase.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves described the move as a "significant step" towards delivering on Labour's manifesto promise to introduce a "genuine living wage for working people".
Other rumours such as cuts to NHS waiting lists are yet to be confirmed, with local authorities hoping not to fall behind on the list of priorities.
Mr Tett said: "The government has a requirement for local government to deliver a lot of key policies for them.
"So looking at things like social care, looking after vulnerable adults, not just the elderly, but working age adults with special needs, they also have a requirement on things like homelessness, home to school transport and looking after a whole range of vulnerable sectors and those pressures are enormous on local government.
"At the moment we're seeing the numbers going up, we're seeing the complexity going up, children's safeguarding is a big issue for us.
"So what we're asking the government to do is to give us that extra financial support that enables us to deliver their priorities for them locally."
Mr Tett further detailed four "non-negotiable" priorities for Buckinghamshire Council, areas he believes need urgent funding protection: "Children’s safeguarding, adult social care—both for working-age adults and the elderly—home-to-school transport, particularly for children with special educational needs, and homelessness", adding that without additional support from central government, councils may be forced to raise council tax to cover rising costs.
Concerns about a potential increase in employer National Insurance are also at the forefront of Mr Tett's mind, as he believes it could lead to higher operating costs for both the public and private sectors.
“If National Insurance goes up for us…that’s going to have a massive impact on our costs, which will obviously have to be passed on to local residents in terms of higher council tax,” he said.
A related issue for Buckinghamshire Council and many councils nationwide is the pressure to reduce spending.
Buckinghamshire, for instance, has saved £75 million over the past four years by streamlining operations and eliminating redundancies.
Mr Tett also raised a key environmental and community concern regarding proposed changes to national planning regulations, which could ease restrictions on development in green belt areas around London, having a direct impact in Buckinghamshire.
"I think local people are going to start becoming very unhappy when they start seeing big new housing estates sprawling over green belt through woodlands, across areas that they thought were protected."
"where are the roads, where are the doctor’s surgeries…where are the parks, the playgrounds, the schools", he added, noting that without adequate infrastructure, new developments place a strain on existing local services, further impacting local quality of life.