'Government funding is not adequate' leader of council tackling budget deficit warns

The leader of Solihull Council has again stressed the authority is not “being funded enough” by the government as it attempts to tackle a forecast budget deficit. As previously reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service the revenue forecast, to the end of the financial year (April 2025), had shown a hole in the authority’s finances of £7.7 million.

At the latest meeting of the authority’s cabinet senior councillors were given the news the deficit has reduced to £6.8 million. But Andrew Felton, the authority’s director of resources, said: “That is still not great in the context of things, but it is an improvement.”

A freeze on non-essential spending and controls on staff recruitment are among the methods Solihull Council is already using to tackle the deficit. Mr Felton said: “It may not be having a significant impact in terms of reducing the overall spend but we think it has mitigated some of the additional pressures service areas have seen.”

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The director said there was “quite a lot” of work planned before Christmas looking for where additional savings could be made. Ian Courts, the leader of the authority, said: “The simple issue is, generally, we have been asked to carry out services where funding is not adequate.

“Some of our core funding as a council is 20 per cent less than it was from 10 years ago. The numbers don’t add up.

“This is a situation most local authorities are experiencing. The messaging is the same particularly with children and adult (services) - we are not being funded enough, it is as simple as that.”

Earlier this year Coun Courts joined the leaders of six other local authorities in the West Midlands to write to deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner about the challenging financial situation. In their joint letter they warned there is a “real risk of the whole region declaring itself as financially unsustainable”.

At the meeting on Thursday, (November 15), the leader quoted the deputy PM’s response which said: “The government is under no illusions about the scale of the pressures that, as you rightly point out, local authorities are facing. The government will fix the foundations of local government.”

Coun Courts then said: “There are other statements as well (in the response) which I regard as helpful and positive. It is just a matter of when we will see the changes and the help that local government is asking for.”

As recently reported Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced an additional £1.3 billion of grant funding for local authorities, including at least £600 million for social care services, in Labour's first budget since being elected.