Calderdale faces extra cuts of more than £13m over the next three years

Councillors have been told the budget gap is in addition to planned savings which will already add up to £13.1m.

In common with councils across the region, Calderdale has been making large scale cuts in recents years as Government support for councils is reduced as part of austerity measures.

The latest figures. to be presented to senior Calderdale councillors next week, come as the authority starts to plan its budget for the next financial year.

The council’s cabinet will be told that the authority’s financial forecasts have been revised after the then chancellor, George Osborne, warned in March that the Government was seeking further savings to keep its plans to balance the books by 2020 on track.

However, in the aftermath of the referendum on Britain’s EU membership Mr Osborne dropped the 2020 target and it remains to be seen what approach the new Government under Theresa May will take.

The report to Calderdale Council’s cabinet warns that the new forecast assumes that council tax will be raised by almost two per cent in each of the next three years.

It also includes further two per cent rises in each of the next two years through the ‘social care precept’ where the Government allows councils to raise additional tax if it is ringfenced to meet care costs.

The report says: “Given the scale of the savings already in the pipeline the council will have to be radical in its approach if it is to successfully deliver a balanced budget.”

Councillors will also consider accepting the Treasury’s offer of a three year funding settlement.