Walsall Council set to cut more than £36 million from budget
Walsall Council’s “dire financial situation” is set to get even bleaker as finance bosses look to cut more than £36 million to balance the books.
A public consultation has been launched on a proposed £36.7 million of cuts from the authority’s budget over the coming financial years up to 2023/24.
Bosses said the need to divert funds to the fight against Covid-19 and continued reductions in grants and funding from Government due to austerity measures meant they continued to set a legal budget.
Council leader Mike Bird also said they would continue to push the Government to refund all the money they have spent tackling Covid, which was promised at the start of lockdown.
Proposed savings have been identified across all areas and the authority will continue with the Walsall Proud Programme, which sees them paying consultants PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) £10 million over a number of years to deliver three times as many savings.
Councillor Bird said they would continue to invest extra money into statutory areas such as adult social care and children services.
He said: “It is a dire financial situation that we are in at present and we can’t see that getting any better in the near future. Yes, it’s fair to say we expect to get more money from Government.
Gap
“We were promised to have every pound we spend repatriated to Walsall Council and I have continued to press for that.
“Sadly that has not happened and whilst the Government has indeed given us large amounts of money, many grants have been given out to businesses to allow them to survive and protect jobs.
“But unfortunately this is still not enough and we’ve got to look to our own laurels and see how we can make savings within the council’s budget that we have to control and look to close that gap.”
People can take part in the consultation by visiting www.walsall.gov.uk/budgethaveyoursay.
