Dire warning of the cost of social care for Bristol City Council
There's a warning forecasts show the time will come when local authorities run out of cash to pay for anything else
Last updated 8th Aug 2024
Costs of social care eat up a whopping £4 out of every £5 that Bristol City Council has to spend on all the services it provides, it has been revealed.
Deputy mayor for finance Cllr Craig Cheney (Labour, Hillfields) warned that forecasts show the time will come when local authorities run out of money to pay for anything else.
The dire prediction came as the council’s cabinet agreed the proposed annual budget, with the final decision to be made at full council next month.
Council tax will rise by the maximum 4.99 per cent allowed by government, including two per cent for social care – a rise of £99.60 for band D households, excluding the police and fire precepts.
The 2024/25 revenue budget for everyday services such as bin collections, road repairs and libraries, totals £525million.
About £24million of “savings” have been put forward to bridge a funding gap.
Most of these are the same ones that went out to public consultation in November and December but, notably, they no longer include the £3million cuts to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme after Cllr Cheney recently announced a U-turn and scrapped the idea.
The deputy mayor told cabinet on Tuesday, January 23: “For eight years running we have tabled a balanced budget.
“Meeting that challenge should not be underestimated while we have seen other authorities declare bankruptcy.
“We have been able to balance while keeping open all our libraries, all our children’s centres, and deliver on our promises for the city.
“Seventy per cent of the council’s budget now goes on demand-led services.
“When you take out 10 per cent for capital financing, that leaves 20 per cent of our budget to spend on everything the city thinks the council does beyond delivering social care.
“That was probably 60 per cent 14 years ago.
“People can’t underestimate how phenomenal a scale that challenge is for councils to continue to deliver libraries, parks, street lights, burial plots, bin collections, everything that people expect from the council to deliver across the city while losing such a significant amount of funding.
“Every graph effectively plots a point at which social care costs outstrip council budgets entirely and there is no capacity left to deal with anything else, so government very soon has to grasp the nettle on this or I don’t know where we go.
“It’s an era-defining problem and one that we’re just not dealing with at the moment.”
He said a solution involving the private sector seemed impossible and that the answer was to raise money for social care through National Insurance.
Cabinet member for housing delivery and homelessness Cllr Tom Renhard (Labour, Horfield) said: “It’s a testament to this council that we are managing to set a five-year balanced budget.
“It’s not without its risks, it’s not without its challenges.
“We have a national Tory government which is presiding over an increasing number of local authorities on the verge of going bust and a current gap of £4billion nationally in local government finance that must be addressed.”
A report to cabinet said the savings were needed to plug a £20.4million shortfall in 2024/25.
It said £5.9million of council reserves would be used to balance the books in 2026/27 and a further £4.8million the following year.
As proposed in November, £9million from Clean Air Zone charges will help pay for subsidised buses and road improvements, while e-scooter payments will also fund highway repairs.
Costs to tie the knot at the register office or pay for a registrar to attend a licensed venue will rise, and spending will be reduced on signage and wayfinding information.
The council’s capital programme for major projects will be £2.7billion over 10 years.