The government’s provisional local government settlement grant increase to Blackburn with Darwen Council is ‘a step in the right direction’ by recognising deprivation levels in the borough, its leader has told senior colleagues.
Cllr Phil Riley made the comment as the authority’s executive board meeting on Thursday night approved a report on its financial situation.
The document by finance boss Cllr Vicky McGurk revealed the council still faces a cash gap of £1.5 million for the coming 2025/26 financial year which rises to £10.1m by March 31, 2028, despite a projected maximum council tax rise from April 1 of 4.99 per cent.
The authority’s budget shortfall for the 12 months from April 1 comes despite it receiving an 8.4 per cent increase in its Core Spending Power (CSP) for 2025/26 – above the England average of six per cent – in last month’s announcement.
The council was also given a £5.3m one-year recovery grant and an extra £4.4m specifically for social care as part of its £192.2m package.
Cllr Riley told the meeting: “The settlement is very positive. It is a step in the right direction.
“It recognises need as a significant factor which has not been the case for the last 14 years.
“Blackburn with Darwen Council has got one of the better settlements.
“I think it is what we expected the new government would do. We would have been disappointed if the government had not made these kinds of changes.
“It doesn’t square the circle – there is still a £1.5m deficit which has to be cleared before were get to where we want to with a break-even budget.
“I am sure our finance director and his team will manage that.”
Cllr Riley expressed the hope that rather than this year’s one-year settlement the government would introduce a two or three-year package when it announces its grants to England’s councils in 12 months time, giving the authority the financial stability to plan for the longer term.
Cllr Mustafa Desai, leader of the borough’s main opposition 4 BwD group, said: “There is still a lot of recovery to do.”
Education and children’s services boss Cllr Julie Gunn said: “There is really positive news in this settlement.”
Conservative group leader Cllr John Slater has already said: “They keep saying they are balancing the budget but obviously they are not or they would not have such a big shortfall.
“They kept blaming the Conservative government for 14 years. Are they going to blame their own Labour government now?”