‘Difficult decisions ahead’ to find £3m in order to keep Council Tax Reduction Scheme

Deputy mayor Craig Cheney was on stage at the Bristol Beacon on Thursday evening to introduce the opening show at the venue, following a five-year £132m refurbishment to which Bristol City Council contributed £84m.

On the same night, Cheney revealed that the city council is keeping the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

Up to 100 per cent of a household’s council tax bill is able to be paid for through the scheme, with 75 per cent of eligible low-income households currently having their bills paid in full.

But there is a catch. In order to keep the scheme, there will need to be an additional £3m of cuts from council coffers.

“Next year’s budget requires another £3m of savings,” Cheney wrote on the mayor of Bristol’s blog.

“There are no easy decisions left, no efficiencies to make, and no fat to trim. More difficult decisions lie ahead. They cannot be ducked.”

Cheney said: “We have been proud to provide over £325m of support to families across Bristol since taking office.

“This achievement has been without the support of other parties locally, and despite more than a decade of national government austerity.”

The Green Party, however, claim that the current Labour administration “have twice tried to cut the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and both times been stopped thanks to opposition councillors and Acorn”.

Lib Dem councillor Andew Brown tweeted:”All hail the administration for once again saving the Council Tax Reduction Scheme from, we, the administration.”

………………………………………..

Read more: Plans to relocate Central Library scrapped after public outcry

………………………………………..

Cheney added: “In February, Full Council approved a £3 million saving from the Council Tax Reduction scheme for the upcoming financial year.

“The Council has since consulted on a number of potential options to deliver that saving, while asking people who want to keep the scheme in its current form to suggest how to do that while balancing the budget.

“Opposition councillors did not suggest alternative savings at Full Council, and have not been forthcoming since then in suggesting alternative budget savings.

“Ultimately, if councillors choose not to have a balanced budget, commissioners appointed by the Tory government will do it for us – with the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, along with the frontline services we’ve protected, first on the chopping block.

“While the consultation results show that the majority of respondent would support changes to the scheme, now is not the time.

“Today, we will publish a paper to come to cabinet next week, recommending that our Council Tax Reduction Scheme continues in its current form.

“This is of course welcome news for families, but it does mean that next year’s budget requires another £3m of savings.

“There are no easy decisions left, no efficiencies to make, and no fat to trim. More difficult decisions lie ahead. They cannot be ducked.

“It will be incumbent on all councillors to come together and pick from the least-bad options left to balance Bristol’s budget for an eighth consecutive year, including an alternative £3m of savings with our Council Tax Reduction Scheme staying in place for 2024/25.”

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• 14 cultural organisations across Bristol could no longer receive council funding
• Environmental activist Danica Priest to stand as councillor
• Cemetery given permission to expand onto Bristol’s last working farm

Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: