Rochdale Borough Council faces more cuts as £33 million slashed

Rochdale Borough Council faces even more cuts as an additional £33 million has been slashed from the budget over the next three years.

Since 2010/11, the Council has made £176.4m of savings. This means that since austerity measures were introduced in 2010, the Borough will have lost over £200m from its budget.

At the start of the 2017/18 budget process, the gap for 2017/18 was £15.9m. Provisional budgets for 2018/19 to 2019/20 indicated at Budget Council in March that a further £15.4m of savings were required to balance the budget for these years.

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This has been updated as further information has become available and has been revised to £23.9m over the period 2018/19 – 2019/20, rising to £33.6m in 2020/21. The estimated budget gap has been revised to £15.9m in 2018/19; £8.0m in 2019/20; and £9.6m in 2020/21.

The Council Cabinet will meet on Thursday (14 September) to discuss the budget programme. A consultation on savings proposals will run from Monday 18 September to 1 November 2017.

The final budget will be set by 11 March 2018.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Richard Farnell said: “Since the government’s relentless austerity programme started in 2010 Rochdale has had the best part of £200m of cuts and there is still huge pressure on our services.

"Now we are looking at a further £33.5m of cuts over the next three financial years; and yet the government thinks we can continue providing life or death and essential services such as educating our children, looking after the elderly and caring for disabled people.

“The council has worked incredibly hard to minimise the impact of these devastating cuts and we will continue to do so. However, we must be realistic that there comes a time when it will be impossible to deliver services we are legally obliged to do with the amount of funding we receive.

"We are now at crisis point.

"We have made representation after representation to the government, but unfortunately so far it has fallen on deaf ears. We have already cut away the fat, we have stripped away the meat and we are now hacking away at the bone.”

Victoria Bradshaw, Chief Finance Officer at Rochdale Borough Council, added: “To support the council's requirement to deliver a balanced budget for 2018/19 a series of savings proposals will be considered by Cabinet on Thursday 14 September. Before any final decisions are taken there would be a consultation with staff affected by the proposals, and the trade unions.”