Cost of living crisis 'will challenge Sandwell Council plans' to cut budget by £16 million

The Labour-led authority is expected to make the cuts – focusing on the authority’s internal costs.

That includes charges for green bins, a further increase to the 3.99 per cent proposed raise in council tax, cutting grants to voluntary organisations and reducing respite support, among many more options.

However, soaring energy and grocery prices – along with the removal in October of the £20 Covid top-up to universal credit, and a planned national insurance increase, are also set to impact residents.

At a budget and corporate scrutiny meeting on Tuesday, councillors scrutinised a draft annual budget presented by directors of services across the authority.

Labour councillor Luke Giles said the rising cost of living was a "huge concern".

He questioned whether the council would implement free parking into town centres to help give a boost to footfall across high streets, and reduce costs on policing and maintenance.

But Simone Hines, director of finance, said the council “generates a surplus” from the parking charges.

She said: “We do still generate surplus, then that is reinvested into the car parking service, and some of the capital investment that’s required in our roads and highways.

“It’s still worth the council charging for car parking rather than offering free parking.”

But Councillor Giles remarked that those charges may cause “strains and pressures” on residents in Sandwell.

He said: “The biggest thing that concerns me at the moment is the cost of living is going to go up drastically.

“We’ve seen utility bills going up. We’re going to be putting council tax up. We’ve got National Insurance going up.

“What strains and pressures is that going to put on the council going forward, when we’ve got more people in poverty and needing support from the council?”

The Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme may mitigate some of those pressures, said Ms Hines, who added that the council has a “number of support mechanisms” in place to offer help on a means tested basis.

But Councillor Giles questioned the support the council already provides, adding: “Are we going to get inundated with more people who need help?

“Other resources we are going to have to step up because this is going to affect everybody, I think, in one way or another. And I don’t see the government doing a fat lot to support people.”

Conservative councillor Jay Anandou asked when income streams will reach “pre-Covid levels”.

He also asked if the council have a “strategic solution” to solving permanent income stream losses, such as reduced footfall in high streets.

In response, Ms Hines said: “I think it depends on whether customer habits actually returned to pre-Covid levels and whether people will continue to do more shopping online and therefore won’t come into the town centres.

“I think it very much depends on on people’s behaviour patterns and whether they’ve got used to doing things a different way, which I think many have.

“I suspect we’ll see a new normal emerge when we go back to how things work is my personal view.”