Councillor Ray Morgon, Leader of Havering Council, responds to the recent announcement:
Despite the well-known financial issues encountered by Havering (as highlighted by the BBC Panorama programme earlier this year) through decades of Government underfunding, once again, Havering has been ignored by the Government in the latest local Government funding settlement.
The Government have set aside, and are distributing, additional grant money to councils, but this is based on an out of date formula, using data well over a decade old and one where the higher council tax you pay, the less that you receive.
The recent announcement showed through a variety of grants Havering will receive an extra £10 million, but this will be wiped out by the Government’s increase in National Insurance Contributions and increases in the National Living Wage.
The phrase give with one hand and take back with the other springs to mind.
We have tried to do the right thing each year by making cuts and becoming more efficient, and independent analysis has shown that we are one of the most productive Councils in the UK and have one of the lowest unit costs in all of outer London, but still we get penalised.
As a result, our residents are having to pay higher council tax for less.
It has been well documented that the costs of social care and homelessness have gone up well above our resources, and because of this, we had to get access to a Government loan to be able to set a balanced budget earlier this year and will need to do the same again next year.
Instead of offering a solution and a share of the extra money set aside for councils who need it most, the Government have given money to councils who are better off than us.
This is not fair or right and needs to change.
We will continue to lobby the Government for a fairer deal for Havering and would urge residents to go to our website and sign our petition and lobby their MP.