Council Proposes Family Friendly Budget for 2024/25

Councillor Read and Council team
Councillor Read and Council team

More funding for road resurfacing, youth work, children’s centres and upgrades to playgrounds are all being proposed as the Council plans a family-friendly budget for the next 12 months.

Since 2010, the Council has needed to make savings and cost reductions in excess of £200m, in response to the significant reductions in Central Government funding and the rising cost of providing social care services. Despite the effects of high levels of inflation over the last two years, the Council is committed to delivering a budget which supports residents and families across the borough.

The proposed increase of 1.5% on basic council tax plus a further 2% on the government’s Adult Social Care Levy is expected to be the lowest overall percentage increase of any council with social care responsibilities in the Yorkshire region. For the majority of Rotherham households the increase amounts to an extra 79p per week.

This will be the fifth successive year that Rotherham Council has proposed a council tax increase below the government’s referendum cap threshold.

The Council has put family friendly measures at the heart of this year’s budget proposals:

- An additional £370,000 a year for additional Youth Work and Early Help services, including additional staffing for Children’s Centres to provide hundreds more sessions of direct help to parents of young children

- £360,000 to provide Baby Packs to all 2,700 new babies born in the borough every year, so that no family goes without essential items such as thermometers, muslin cloths, towels and nappies

- More than £900,000 for a major upgrade of eight children’s play areas, including those at Thrybergh and Rother Valley Country Parks

- A further £900,000 to undertake necessary works to revamp and restore Clifton Park Watersplash

- A £165,000 contribution to the new SEND Hub in the town centre, to be delivered in conjunction with Rotherham Parent Carer’s Forum, providing more help for families of children with special educational needs and disabilities

An extension of financial support to low income families is also proposed, with some 14,200 local families expected to be supported through the current cost of living pressures with a one year extension to Rotherham Council’s Council Tax Support Top Up. This would be worth up to an additional £121.96 per year to each household.

At the same time, the Council is proposing a number of investments to respond to the needs of our local communities. Amongst these are:

- £16 million over the next four years for roads and pavement improvements, supporting an additional 40 miles of road resurfacing

- Halving the cost of household bulky waste collections, and increasing fixed penalty notice fines for littering and fly-tipping to the legal maximum

- £2 million for a new “Our Places Fund”, following on from the investments made in the Towns and Villages Fund, to fund improvements in local environments

- £1.34 million to continue upgrading streetlighting columns, £400,000 for traffic light modernisation and a further £400,000 for small scale local road safety improvements

- £366,000 per year for additional street cleaning, with priority given to the principal towns: Wath, Swinton, Dinnington, Maltby and Rotherham town centre, supported by additional capital investment in equipment

- £5.5 million to support the further delivery of flood defences, including funding to completion schemes at Whiston Brook and Eel Mires Dyke in Laughton Common

- A £7.5 million uplift in Adult Social Care spending

As a result of careful financial planning, the Council in a comparatively good position to help vulnerable residents who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, to take action to meet the environmental challenges and to invest in significant capital projects.

Rotherham Council Leader, Councillor Chris Read, said: Residents and families across the borough have been having a tough time. Inflation is still high. And we have to make responsible decisions at a time when councils across the country are laying off staff and having to make cuts to services.

“But because of the difficult choices we have made over the last few years, we are able to bring forward budget proposals that put the needs of Rotherham’s families first. Too many children in our borough are going without, and too many parents are struggling to make ends meet. So we are stepping up our efforts to support them, with more money for children’s centres and youth work, as well as improving free activities that are open to everyone.

“In the same way, we have heard the concerns of residents about our roads and pavements, so we can announce a further major four year programme of investment. And we want to continue to invest in additional street cleaning and local schemes to improve the appearances of our neighbourhoods, halve the price of household bulky waste collections and continue to crack down on people who blight our communities with litter and fly-tipping.

“By continuing to make prudent choices we can continue to support residents with social care needs, and to invest in the future of our borough. However, while we are doing that we will continue to urge the government to put in place a sustainable funding programme for councils everywhere, recognising the different needs and circumstances of different parts of the country, so that residents can have confidence that services can be maintained for the long term.”

The Local Government Association (LGA) estimates councils as a whole in England face a £4 billion funding gap over the next two years just to keep services running. According to the LGA, half of all councils nationally say they are not confident they will have enough funding to fulfil their legal duties next year, including providing statutory services.

Some councils have already issued 114 notices, with many others saying they are on the brink of doing the same. Those councils will have to make a raft of cuts or face going into intervention.

The Council’s budget proposals will be considered by Cabinet on Monday 12th  February and go before Full Council on Wednesday 28th February 

Photo: Council Leader Cllr Chris Read on site with Highways and Street Scene staff, including those working on the Towns and Villages scheme.

Published: 30th January 2024