![\"North](\"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/360wire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2025\/11\/North-Yorkshire-Council-offices.jpg\")
Dr Lowther said that council budgets have been on \u2018a bit of a rollercoaster\u2019 in the last 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe main issue being they haven’t kept in touch with inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the peak of austerity from 2010 to 2015, council budgets went down per person by nearly a third \u2013 about 29%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat carried on falling, but not as rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOver the following eight years, it fell by about 1% per person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that from 2023-25, spending power per person rose by about 7%, but is \u2018nowhere near\u2019 the budgets they had during the 2010s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most councils will protect statutory services, which they have to provide by law, when cutting spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These include child protection, temporary accommodation for homeless people, special educational needs and adult social care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Discretionary services, such as libraries, parks and leisure centres, often bear the brunt of cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are also problems with the way council budgets are organised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Lowther said: \u201cThey’re quite inflexible \u2013 they’ve been given one-year budgets; they’ve been given a tightly ring-fenced budget so they can only spend them on certain things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey also have council tax, which isn\u2019t very well organised, it’s very outdated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEngland is very strange as a democracy in the very limited amount of money that local government actually can raise locally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe’re very centralized, and the council tax system is very outdated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Current council tax rates are based on house valuations in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere’s a very limited variation in the rates, so the percent of your value that you pay in council tax is higher if you’re in a small house than if you’re in a really expensive house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn that sense, it’s a regressive tax.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that the government should look to other countries to give councils a wider range of income streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These include giving a proportion of a national tax to local authorities, a sales tax or a tourist levy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he warned that councils will continue to face budget pressures in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think we are likely to see more councils filing for bankruptcy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Local Government Information Unit did a survey this year and 6% of councils said that they faced issuing a Section 114 notice, and 35% in the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf that last figure is true, that’s over 100 councils declaring bankruptcy by 2030.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Section 114 notice is issued by a council when spending is likely to exceed its income or there is no prospect of balancing its budget for the next financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means all non-essential new spending is halted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Leeds, a report on revenue savings proposals up to 2028\/29 was presented to councillors on 19 November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Council leaders in North Yorkshire have called for more support from central government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Councils in Yorkshire have issued bleak warnings about the current state of their finances. Latest figures found Leeds City Council\u2019s forecast deficit for 2025\/26 was up by more than \u00a310million between August and September. North Yorkshire Council has said it could be facing a total deficit of more than \u00a330m by 2028. Dr Jason Lowther, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":3062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,22,428,224,8],"tags":[532,131,28,40,60],"class_list":["post-4377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-infocus","category-infocustop","category-leeds","category-north-yorkshire","category-politics","tag-councils","tag-in-focus","tag-leeds","tag-north-yorkshire","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n