How we're tackling cuts

Though Islington is often seen as wealthy it is England's eighth most deprived borough with huge inequality.

We are very dependent on Government grants to provide the services on which our most vulnerable residents rely. The proposed cuts to these grants are on a scale that have not been seen since post-War years. We have to make £100m savings over the next four years – over a third of our net total budget.

On 13 December 2010 the government announced detailed local government funding proposals. These will mean immediate grant cuts of £39m in 2011/12 for Islington and a further £13m in 2012/13.  (In the coming year we will revert to the same funding levels effectively as for 2004/5 -  without allowing or inflation or service pressures.) The council is not permitted to put up council tax (instead the Government will provide £2.1m in grant) and cannot raise revenue through additional charges beyond a reasonable level.

Using the Government’s own figures, we face a cut in funding of 8.78% and alongside other poor boroughs like Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets are one of the hardest hit councils in London. At the other end of the scale, Richmond’s reduction is 0.61%. The chart at the bottom of the page, produced using government figures, gives more detail about  the relative scale of cuts across London boroughs and also shows that we face the biggest cut in cash terms at 12%.  

What we are doing already to close the gap

We have been preparing to make the huge savings required of us by scrutinising all our budgets carefully. We have had to take some very difficult decisions about services we currently provide and inevitably some will have to change or close. Wherever possible we have tried to target our funds at those people most in need of our help.  The budget we have agreed for 21011/12 includes:

• a new Citizens Advice Bureau for residents to open April, to meet rising demand for help with benefits and debt advice
• no closure of any children's centres, libraries or the council's Ecology Centre
• a new £55,000 grant to run services at Sotheby Mews Day Centre
• continuation of free school meals for all schoolchildren
• no cuts to lollipop ladies and lollipop men
• a £1 million Voluntary Sector Rescue Fund to help charities in Islington deal with the effects of the cuts.

The council will shed around 300 jobs, including voluntary and compulsory redundancies and non-replacement of staff.

We will continue to work towards our priorities - improving safety, housing and fairness across the borough. We will also be employing an assistant dog warden in response to the high level of concern about status dogs and our new licensing policy will help tackle anti-social behaviour in some parts of the borough.

We will continue to explore opportunities to improve our efficiency. Already we have reduced our administration costs by around £36m over the past two financial years.

We are exploring with suppliers and businesses new ways of supporting residents and are looking to work more closely with other public sector organisations such as the police, NHS and charities.  We are cutting costs through shared services with other councils too. For example, the joint contract we recently let with Camden council for the provision of school meals saved us £900,000.

Because a lot of the grants we have received in the past to support children's services and adult social services have been cut, we now need to start the difficult task of consulting residents - and our partners in the voluntary sector who help deliver many services on our behalf - on proposals to reduce or close services.  

Important dates

• The council's budget for the next financial year was agreed at the Full Council meeting on 17 February 2011. You can see the papers on the democracy section of our site
• The government consulted on its proposals for the financial settlement and announced them on 1 February 2011
• The Islington Fairness Commission discussed how to make budgets fair on 7 December
• The impact of cuts across Islington was discussed at the Full Council meeting on 2 December. You can read more detail in 'Estimated Public Cuts in Islington' paper presented at the meeting on the democracy section of our site
• The government will be reviewing the local government finance system next year, after which budgets for 2013/14 and 2014/15 will be set. We anticipate this will lead to further reductions in our funding.
• We will continue to keep you updated on developments on our website and in our magazine IslingtonLife