Children sent to school on separate days as parent can only afford one pair of shoes

As the cost of living crisis continues and councils are looking to tighten the purse strings Coun Brian Hubbard has pleaded with decision makers to remember that people are being pushed to the limit. The local authority has lined up £12.4m worth of cuts and a 3.99 per cent council tax increase after a £14.9m shortfall was identified.

Speaking at the latest executive meeting, Coun Hubbard said: “We have heard many heartbreaking stories in our wards. I was last speaking to a school teacher who said that one family had two children and one child was attending one day and the other wasn’t, and vice versa. Only one child was attending at one time. When it was looked into the mother could only afford one pair of shoes and that’s the stark reality of what we are facing.”

He was speaking during a discussion about the upcoming £126.4m budget proposals. A 3.99 per cent council tax increase has been proposed but Independent mayor Andy Preston said there was a “very strong argument” for a five per cent rise. Each one per cent rise in council tax means an extra £600k for the local authority.

Coun Hubbard, who is a member of the Middlesbrough Independent Councillors Association, added: “We really have to bear in mind that we are pushing people to their very limits. The government might punish us if we don’t exhaust the possibility of taking the extra one per cent but on the other hand, we have been slashed by more than 40 per cent by the same government in our budget. So they’re basically asking if you want to be garotted or hanged. It’s about time we got more money.”

Speaking after the meeting, Coun Hubbard, who represents Park End and Beckfield, said the school paid for new shoes so both children could attend. Yet in another bleak admission, he added that a school had bought a washing machine as youngsters were attending in dirty uniforms.

Middlesbrough Council has suffered a significant reduction in government cash since changes were made to the funding system. In 2013/14 the council received £81.2m, which has dropped to £43.5m in 2023/24. Though the mayor did say that the council was receiving £9m more than it expected for the next financial year.

The local authority does have a support scheme in place for those who might struggle to afford council tax. Those on the lowest incomes can receive up to a 90 per cent reduction on their bill.