Budget shows new government grasps ‘key issues’, says Hackney mayor

Mayor of Hackney Caroline Woodley. Photograph: Hackney Council

Mayor Caroline Woodley has welcomed the Labour government’s first budget – saying it turns the page on years of “brutal” cuts.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves this week laid out plans that amount to a £40bn tax hike to help pay for an overall spending increase of £70bn.

Speaking to the Citizen, Mayor Woodley praised the historic budget—the first ever delivered by a female Chancellor.

She said: “After 14 years of Conservative government austerity, this budget saw the first woman to take office as Chancellor roll up her sleeves and begin the work of reversing the chronic underfunding of public services—brutal cuts that have left Hackney Council’s core spending power reduced by 40 per cent since 2010.”

Local authorities up and down the country are likely to note key funding pledges included in Reeves’ plans, including an additional £600m in grants for social care, an extension of the Housing Support Fund, and an extra £300m for further education.

Also contained in the budget were a reduction in Right to Buy discounts for council tenants, and permission for local authorities to retain receipts from the sales of its homes.

Capital receipts from selling off social housing are used by councils to pay for the refurbishment and building of affordable housing stock.

In a statement, the Mayor Woodley said: “With the extension of the Household Support Fund through next year, and additional funding for Discretionary Housing Payments and Carer’s Allowance, the budget takes concrete steps to support people with the cost of living, delivering meaningful change to Hackney residents who need it most.

“We have seen proof that the new Labour government shares our priorities, knows the value of public services and wants to invest in our communities — with additional funding for housing, tackling homelessness, increasing the national minimum wage, supporting social care and the promise of investment in clean energy.”

The borough leader took particular note of the extra £1bn for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

“With the challenges we’re facing in education in Hackney right now, and with the campaigning I’ve done in this area, for me the £1bn funding injection in SEND cuts through as a clear indication of the new government gripping the key issues,” Woodley said.

While more cash for education should benefit the borough’s learning support offering for children and young people, the Town Hall has courted controversy in recent months over this issue.

Last year, its decision to close four Hackney schools infuriated parents of children with SEND, who were given a 12-day deadline to pick their new school.

The Town Hall subsequently extended the cut-off date.

A further slew of closures and changes involving six schools are currently in consultation, which has caused further anger and fear among teaching staff and parents.

The council blames the need to shut or “merge” the schools on falling pupil numbers caused by a declining birth rate.

Elsewhere, it is planning reduced investment in local services to deal with a projected overspend of close to £37m.

Mayor Woodley said: “We know more must be done to tackle the hole in local government finances, and that we have to take really tough decisions to balance our budget.

“There is no escaping the fact that in Hackney, as is the case for so many people across the country, we need to prepare for reduced services in some areas, to protect the frontline serving our most vulnerable residents.”

She also declared that Hackney could now benefit from having a central government willing to invest and “work with, not against” councils.

But despite the uplifts included in the government’s budget, the Town Hall and other local authorities across England will have their sights set on the government’s unpublished council spending plans for 2025/26.

The provisional local government finance settlement is published annually, usually in December, and sets out core funding allocations for the forthcoming financial year.

In June, the Institute for Fiscal Studies projected that cuts to some council services up and down the country are “highly likely” if spending pressures did not abate, with a signficant risk that many more councils would be pushed to financial breaking point.

Hackney’s finance chief Cllr Robert Chapman said recently that if homelessness levels in the borough continue to spiral, the Town Hall may join other councils that have sought an emergency bailout from the government.

Mayor Woodley said: “We will work together in the run up to the provisional settlement before Christmas, and the long awaited multi-year spending review in the spring, to reach a sustainable solution which empowers us to deliver for Hackney.”