Residents and businesses are being urged to help shape next year’s budget as the council continues to deal with a challenging financial situation caused by a combination of pressures beyond its control.
Haringey’s core government funding is now an estimated £143m less a year in real terms than it was in 2010/11. Meanwhile, demand for adult social care services has dramatically increased as people live longer and often need more complex support.
This coupled with other pressures such as persistently high inflation pushing up costs, increased homelessness and residents needing more support because of the cost-of-living crisis, is putting the council's budget under significant strain.
The draft proposals for 2024/25, reported to Cabinet last week (5 December), includes targeted support to protect services for the borough’s most vulnerable through investment in vital social care and temporary accommodation. The council is now asking for the views of local people.
Cllr Dana Carlin, Cabinet Member for Finance and Local Investment said:
The sharp reduction in core government funding since 2010 and a massive increase in demand for our services, particularly social care, is putting huge pressure on our finances.
We are not alone in this situation with London councils facing a projected collective shortfall of £600m this year. But Haringey, one of the boroughs with the highest levels of deprivation in London, gets even less funding than neighbouring boroughs.
Our budget proposals aim to plug the gap left by government underfunding and ensure we safeguard vital services. This will inevitably lead to some tough choices in other areas as we continue to work towards a balanced budget. This is why we have called on central government to act to save local services by increasing funding for local councils.
Given the challenges we face, we will need to work closely with other public services, local businesses, our voluntary sector, our communities and our residents to find new ways of doing things and ensure we can continue to make Haringey a greener, fairer, safer borough for all.
It is therefore more important than ever to have your say on the proposals and help ensure we get this right.
Proposals include a 2.99% increase in council tax and an additional 2% increase specifically to help meet the increasing costs of adult social care. This is below the rate of inflation over the past year.
We know that council tax disproportionately affects those with the lowest income, so we offer a Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) to help those most in need, with a discount up to 100%. If you need help and support, please visit our website.
