Leeds targets £100m savings

A report created for the council warned it must deliver the savings in the next financial year, citing mounting pressures in social care and the rising cost of temporary accommodation – a budget line increasingly influenced by turbulence in the local housing and property market.

The report, presented this week, said the £101.5m funding gap was being driven by “increasing and volatile demand pressures in social care and temporary accommodation”.

The council will also need to find a further £98.3m over the subsequent two years.

Council leader James Lewis said local authorities were still awaiting clarity on their financial settlements from central government. “We are trying to reduce costs and work on things we know people want us to do well,” he said.

The authority’s financial challenges have accumulated over more than a decade.

A spokesperson said that since 2010 the council had faced a real-terms reduction of £465.9m, equivalent to 70% of its overall budget.

Over the same period, Leeds has delivered £730.2m in savings, which has included a reduction of the council workforce by one-fifth.

Lewis noted that the council had made changes such as cutting senior management posts and reducing its estate footprint, with staff working from “fewer offices and depots”.

He added that the council had maintained services “while looking after some of the city’s most vulnerable residents as well”.

The push for new savings follows a projected £40m overspend this year, driven largely by the cost of children’s services and support for looked-after children.

The council is expected to publish its draft budget, including details of where the savings will fall, in December.