Liverpool City Council has unveiled its budget plan for 2024/25, which includes investing £20m into key frontline services in order to transform and improve them. The balanced budget will see the new funding focused on supporting adult social services, children in care, tackling homelessness, and investing in environmental programmes. In addition to this, the council has added a further £24m in 2024/25 to increase budgets for demand-led services due to the impact of high inflation and the cost of living crisis, combined with what was previously required as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) in March 2023.
The main aim of this budget is to continue supporting the most vulnerable members of Liverpool’s communities while improving financial management, such as maximising the new legislation to quickly bring empty properties back into use and collecting payments. Key parts of the additional funds will include £7.8m to support transformation activities for improving investment decisions and council service delivery, £3.5m for children’s services, £1.7m for street cleansing for the next two years, £1.5m for neighbourhood enforcement programmes over the next two financial years, £1.4m for new Neighborhood Model services, and an additional £1m per year from 2025/26 for supporting homelessness services.
The council will also put 6% of its next expenditure budget in reserve, amounting to £37m, providing financial resilience in case of any emergency spending. The additional investment is made possible due to the council’s monumental transformation programme, which aims to make it more efficient and productive. Other savings that are projected include £85m by 2025/26, with much of it relating to improvements in adult and children’s social care. Improvement to online payment processes and streamlining systems is expected to generate an additional £18m by 2025/26.
Liverpool City Council has managed to absorb the 9.8% National Living Wage increase from April 1, 2024, and council tax support for the poorest families will continue. As set by the government, business rates will rise in this financial year, which is anticipated to generate £200m for the council. The commissioners described the budget report as being the outcome of a beautiful teamwork exercise between finance and strategic directors and departments and between officers and the executive. Plans were officially approved by the cabinet on February 20, 2024, and would be submitted to all councillors during the budget council meeting on March 6, 2024
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