Haringey councillors are due to vote next week on a budget containing £19m of savings and a 5% council tax rise, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Haringey Council is set to balance its budget following a “number of tough decisions” on spending.

Councillors are due to approve the council’s budget for 2024/25 during its annual budget meeting on Monday (4th March) at Tottenham Town Hall – after finance chiefs found a way to plug a £16.3m hole.

Despite proposed savings to the budget of £19.3m, the council will need to use £5m of its reserves to balance the books. This has been needed to cover the cost of an extra £25.5m of growth built in for demand-led services such as temporary housing and social care.

Next week’s meeting will also set council tax rates for the coming year as well as the proposed housing revenue account (HRA) and dedicated schools budgets. 

The proposed 4.99% increase to council tax rates in Haringey – the maximum allowed – includes a 2% precept for adult social care.

The council admits the budget-setting process has been “extremely challenging” given the “wide range of financial and social challenges” and has called on central government to provide “fairer funding” for the borough in future.

Describing the financial landscape, the council’s budget report states that interest rates are “high” and there remains “uncertainty” over continued inflation which has impacted residents and businesses, along with the national “unrest” of an upcoming UK general election. 

The report also says local government funding settlements are still “insufficient” to meet the “increased cost base of providing services”.

It also notes that councils across the country have highlighted “without recourse to additional funding” they might be “unable to set legitimate budgets for 2025/26”.

Birmingham, Nottingham, and Woking councils all issued Section 114 notices last year, effectively declaring bankruptcy.

Haringey Council predicts that if forced to operate in similar conditions for the years to come, its 2025/26 budget gap could be £14m, while this would rise to £26.5m by 2027/28.

Despite these challenges, the budget report confirms Haringey is still on track to build 3,000 council homes by 2031. The council has also “put in measures” to its HRA budget to support improvements to housing services, fire prevention works, and issues with damp and mould. 

Due to the high cost of borrowing, the council’s capital programme has been reviewed and reduced until the financial landscape becomes more “favourable”.

The capital programme consists of investment schemes for the short and long term but the council has removed proposals that are either “no longer required” or cannot be “progressed” because their “business case no longer works”.

The council is also bringing more staff across the organisation in-house to ensure “value for money” by “driving down spending on agency staff, consultants and senior managers”.

In terms of government funding, Haringey’s share of the government’s social care grant is £2.5m this year, which the council says does not provide “enough to cover the increased cost of delivering adults’ and children’s care” or address the “scale of future funding pressures”. 

The Household Support Fund, which has provided support for residents during the pandemic and cost-of-living crises, is said by the council to be an “invaluable resource” but will now be discontinued by the government.

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