Sunderland City Council faces making £44million cuts in wake of pandemic

City leaders could be forced to make cuts worth more than £44million over the next four years.
Sunderland is facing gloomy financial times in the wake of the pandemicSunderland is facing gloomy financial times in the wake of the pandemic
Sunderland is facing gloomy financial times in the wake of the pandemic

The scale of the challenge facing Sunderland due to the fallout coronavirus pandemic has been laid bare in a new report.

And early indications are that Wearside’s families could be forced to shoulder more hikes to council tax bills, while at the same time services are pared back to save cash, to deal with the deficit.

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“This year we’re dealing with a lot of uncertainty,” said Jon Ritchie, Sunderland City Council’s executive director of corporate services.

“We’ve haven’t had the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, we’ve got Brexit in the next couple of months and we’re part way through a global pandemic.

“But it’s important to realise we’re working in an imperfect position for financial forecasting.”

Ritchie was speaking at a meeting of the city council’s Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee, which was held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.

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According to a report for the panel, Wearside was already facing a deficit next year worth almost £6.9million due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, including pressure on adult and children’s social care.

But further analysis has shown this could more than double in 2021/22, £15.8million, after the impact on families failing to make council tax payments and companies struggling with business rates bills has been taken into account.

By 2024/25 the cumulative total of this could balloon to £44million.

Ritchie added: “Normally, we would expect to have additional income coming into the council’s budget because of changes to council tax and business rates, from new houses, more businesses and inflation.

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“However, [some of the impacts of COVID] this financial year are deferred to next year, as collections drop and more people move on to council tax support schemes.

“So next year business rates and council tax will see a reduction in the income that the council has.”

While bosses have promised to protect ‘key priority services’, they have also hinted at cuts, with a focus on ‘need rather than want’.

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