Sefton Council Criticised As Budget Is Hastily Approved Without Question

Blink and you miss it. Sefton’s multi-million pound Revenue and Capital Budget for the next financial year was cheerily waved through by the ruling Sefton Cabinet at their meeting this week without any questions and only a few brief comments from the Leader of the Council lasting just over a minute.  

Sefton’s total gross expenditure last year was £900M (Statement of Accounts P19)

Opposition leader, Liberal Democrat, John Pugh regards this as worrying in the extreme.

 He says  "The ruling Labour group, who basically make all the spending decisions, either don’t understand how perilous Sefton’s budget position is or just don’t want to talk about it. 

Looking at the figures they have reached the end of the road. The revenue budget presented and passed through without any questioning is the last throw of the dice by an administration that has failed to get a grip. 

Services next year can only be properly funded if the sale of millions of pounds of council assets goes ahead. It’s like trying to meet your daily bills by selling your furniture on e- bay.”

The Council acknowledge that using sales to finance running expenditure will require government permission and that the budget will need to be re-done if the government refuse to allow them. The government will decide later in the month. This could delay the setting of Council Tax. The council are asking for the government to approve a £12M sell off.

Sefton started the year aiming for to keep balances of £19.5M, but by  the end of it Sefton finance officers say starkly “ the Council will have no general balances”. 

 Sefton is proposing to raid the surplus on its local government pension fund in order to have some balances and comply with local government financial standards.

“This is simply not sustainable,” says Cllr Pugh. “Ironically Labour members earlier this year passed a vote of thanks to the Starmer government for its generosity- so they’re stuck for someone to blame. In absolute fairness all councils have been hit by the spiralling costs of Children's Services but Sefton's unit costs in dealing with that challenge are out of control and compare unfavourably with other councils. Sefton’s situation is also worsened by their own failed business ventures. 

However, you look at it though -when you’re selling your assets to pay your bills you know you are in trouble. The Sefton car boot sale is going to be really something and the calm shown by the Sefton Cabinet this week is either a brave piece of theatre or a complete failure of understanding”.