Council services under threat as authority battles £65m budget shortfall caused by coronavirus

Leeds City Council has warned that unless it gets financial help from the government, services to the city will be hit as the authority tries to claw back a funding deficit of almost £65m caused by coronavirus.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The Chief Officer of Finance Services is set to outline the council's financial predicament to senior councillors at a meeting later this month.

According to a report, the Executive Board will hear how the authority "continues to incur additional expenditure and to lose income across services as a consequence of COVID-19".

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Current projections suggest a COVID related overspend of £173.4m. However, with savings of £4.3m from other areas and a government injection of COVID cash to date of £43.7m, that figure can be reduced to £132.3m.

Dark times ahead for Leeds as it battles budget shortfall caused by coronavirus?Dark times ahead for Leeds as it battles budget shortfall caused by coronavirus?
Dark times ahead for Leeds as it battles budget shortfall caused by coronavirus?

Savings from a collection fund will create a further £41.6m that can be put towards filling the funding gap taking the overspend to £90.7m.

Earlier this month, Central Government announced a further package of financial support for local government. The report says that while no funding allocations have been confirmed as yet, initial estimates indicate that additional funding of £25.8m may be in line for Leeds for 2020/21, which would reduce this gap to £64.9m.

However, the report adds: "Given the scale of the funding gap remaining, additional savings measures are still required in year and further support from Government."

Read More
Read More: Leeds faces emergency budget
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Adults and Health has spent an extra £8.8m on things such as PPE, additional care packages to compensate for day centre closures and a temporary mortuary. The Children and Families department has incurred an extra £9.1m on its budget due to paying for residential care and losing £4m in income from schools and children's centres.

The cancellation of arts and heritage events and closure of sites has led to a £2.4m loss for the City Development department, there has been an overall loss of £5.1m from rent reductions and commercial income and the markets has seen a £1.49m loss through loss of rents and advertising.

A trade deal with Leeds Building Services has so far seen a £10.5m loss to council funds, homeless accommodation has cost £1.9m, emergency meals have cost £2m and PPE costs stand at £8.2m.

The council has also lost £7.7m through car-parking and enforcement charges, a further £7.7m from parks and countrysides and has had to spend £5.8m on additional crews to deal with increased volumes of waste.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A spokesperson added: "The current and future financial climate for local government represents a significant risk to the council’s priorities and ambitions. Whilst the council continues to make every effort possible to protect the front line delivery of services, it is clear that the position remains challenging."

The report is set to be discussed by the Executive Board at a meeting on July 20.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.