Sheffield City Council has lost £300m per year in annual grants since 2010, working out as a loss of £13,000 per household, new figures have revealed.
The drastic cuts mean many vital local services have been stripped to the bone.
This comes after a unanimous decision was reached at City Council’s 2023/24 budget meeting, despite an initial failure to approve proposed amendments.
With council tax now up to the legal maximum level (without a referendum) of 4.99%, local governments are clutching for pennies, as they now have to make up for the lack of funding provided by the government.
According to new research from Legal and General (L&G), cost of living pressures is widening the inequalities that the levelling-up agenda is aiming to address.
The research revealed the extent to which rising costs have battered household finances, particularly for the poorest in society.
These figures show 47% of households in the UK are concerned about not being able to keep up with rent and mortgage payments.
John Godfrey, Director of levelling-up at L&G, believes there is light at the end of the tunnel. He said: “Legal and General has already invested billions and is continuing to invest in towns and cities across the UK, including Sheffield.”
Sheffield’s Labour and Co-operative Councillor for Crookes and Crosspool, Minesh Parekh, 29, said local governments are now in an ‘angering position’.
He said: “We have serious and great ambitions for our city and we want people to thrive. We know there are huge pockets of deprivation and huge pockets of poverty, and you can’t tackle that without sustained long-term investment and autonomy of funding.
“It feels like particular pockets are focused on and supported, particularly in the South East, so everyone else is left to scramble and do what they can do for themselves, which is not a way to run a country.”
These announcements come days after the government said it would hand out more than £800m in further levelling up and regeneration funding as part of the budget.
