There’s a £16.7m gap in Tameside, and the council has just six months to plug it

Tameside Council has just six months to plug a £16.7m gap in its budget.

Town hall bosses have already outlined potential savings of just over £4m by the end of the financial year, meaning they have another £12.3m of cuts to find by April 2025.

As it stands, the budget for next year is £16.7m short mainly due to overspending in children’s and adult services.  If the council did nothing, in six months time it would have dip into its reserves – of £154.66m – to plug up the hole in their finances.

Savings have already been made through freezes on recruitment on certain non-priority positions in the workforce. But ‘difficult decisions’ will have to be made in the coming months, according to finance boss Coun Jack Naylor.

Although there are contingency resources available to plug the gap, they can only be used once a year. So if the council used those funds now they would have to find other ways to break even later down the line if other unexpected costs occur.

The newly-appointed executive member for finance and resources said councils up and down the country are struggling to meet financial demands required of them, particularly in children’s and adult services. One example of the concerns in Tameside’s adult social care services is the increased residential placements to outside boroughs, costing more than £8,000 per week.

Coun Naylor explained: “We’re not in a precarious financial situation like other councils across the country. But if this demand continues over the next few years, something will need to change in terms of how councils are funded.”

He went on to say that all councils across Greater Manchester are in a similar situation. Manchester City Council just announced their plans to possibly introduce higher parking fees, £180 litter fines and increased social care charges to plug their £29m budget gap.

Coun Naylor admitted he would have to look into similar cost-saving measures, but the same ones may not be as effective in Tameside. 

No cost-saving plans have been outlined by Tameside Council yet, but this could change in the near future. 

Recent finance papers read: “Should Service risks remain unmitigated in year and become pressures, there may need to be a drawdown from unallocated reserves to bring expenditure to within budget.

“This is not a sustainable approach and will take the Council closer to financial distress. Budgetary control needs to be applied to reduce current expenditure, in addition to longer term recovery plans for each Directorate, which will be required to bring services to within budget.”