PROTECTING vital children’s and adults services and investing in housing across the borough are at the heart of new budget plans unveiled by Haringey Council.
The Council’s cabinet has approved plans for next year’s budget which includes investing an additional £7.6million in children’s services and £7 million more in adult services. Among the projects these will fund are a pilot school meals scheme and the new youth services programme, which are currently being developed.
The council is also set to invest up to £1 billion on housing in Haringey over the next five years, including delivering 1,000 council homes at council rent and £270m on renovating existing council homes. The council’s Borough Plan, which was also confirmed this week, sets out our vision to deliver safe, secure and affordable homes for everyone in Haringey.
The council still has to find £14 million in savings in order to achieve a balanced budget next year. Since 2010, the council’s core spending power has been reduced by £122million (equivalent to £405 per resident) and our workforce has almost halved.
In the past three years, central government forced local councils to levy a precept to cover the funding gap for adult social care. However, this is no longer possible, so Haringey is increasing its base council tax by 2.99%, the first base increase in nine years. Though this adds only 74p a week to the average bill, it will bring in an additional £3 million this year to help the Council continue providing vital services, ranging from waste management and libraries to adults’ and children’s services.