Swindon Borough Council is desperately trying to find savings to fill a large spending gap in this year’s budget.

The council is projecting that the current spending rate will break this year’s budget by £8.4m.

Officers are also trying to set a balanced budget for 2025-2026 which must be agreed upon by February,  a situation the cabinet member for finance Councillor Kevin Small described as “extremely challenging.”

One of the major plans in a local authority’s budget, alongside the council tax paid by residents, is the financial settlement made on each council by the central government.

This is normally finalised in December, and despite the significant concerns in nearly every council in the country about finance, Councillor Small indicated there might be some hope in the recent budget set out by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves.

Acknowledging that as a Labour politician, he was ‘biased’, Cllr Small told his cabinet colleagues there may be some reason for a little optimism.

He said: “We won’t know for certain until the government figures are finalised, but the government announced a £1.3 billion of new funding for local government, of which £600m is for social care.

“If we take the normal yardstick of a third of one per cent, my estimate is that could mean Swindon would get an additional £4m.

“The £1bn to extend the Household Support Fund for England and Wales, which could see another £3m come to Swindon.

“There’s £1bn extra for education for those with disabilities and special needs, and again that could mean £3m for Swindon and there is £640m in bus service improvement plans, which could give us around £2m and £500m new funding for local roads, which could give Swindon about £1.5m.

“There’s £500m to boost affordable housing, again, which could provide about 60 to 70 new affordable homes in Swindon, and there’s £233m additional funding to help our homeless pressures, which has been a major problem, and if we got an additional £700,000 overnight that would solve some of the problems we face.

“There’s a £50m investment package to support planning  - the government wants to increase house building, one of the biggest obstacles is there’s not enough planning officers.

“That would give is about £160,000 which would fund four or five extra posts.”

Cllr Small said he was very pleased by talk of 40 per cent relief in business rates for retail and leisure businesses and said: “I hope there’s compensation to make sure we are not adversely affected by this welcome help for businesses in sectors which are struggling.”

Cllr Small did say the increase in the national living wage would not affect the council directly as all its staff were paid at a higher rate but it would affect it as it pays for care providers on the minimum wage.

He was also cautious about how the money was to be distributed.

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