Trafford council has 'letters ready to go' to Andy Burnham's new Government as it seeks to dig itself out of a financial hole.
Monetary woes at the authority have seen residents hit by huge tax rises two years in a row as town hall bosses seek to stave off the threat of bankruptcy. The 7.49pc hikes approved in the 2025/26 and 2026/27 budgets were coupled with two years of exceptional financial support in the guise of borrowing.
£25m budget gap predicted
These measures alone will not be enough to balance the books in the coming years, however, with the council currently predicting a £25m gap between its income and outgoings for the 2027/28 financial year, documents show. While the authority has set a savings target of £10.35m for by the end of March 2027, council leader Tom Ross has previously said a 'top priority' for his administration is securing fairer funding from the Government.
Just hours after Andy Burnham was sworn in as the UK's newest Prime Minister, Coun Ross told councillors that he intends to 'continue to fight that fight' with the new Government.
Letters ready to go
“We are intending to get in touch with the new Prime Minister, as soon as possible. We have got letters ready to go to do that [...],” Coun Ross said last night (Monday, July 20).
“I would expect our dialogue to remain in a positive way [...] Local government is clearly very important [to Andy Burnham] from what the Prime Minister has set out in recent speeches. So I will be fully engaged in any discussions possible and necessary to make us see a better financial situation for the borough.
“Our residents deserve it, and I know that we will continue to fight that fight.”
Funding concerns
Trafford council has previously blamed its financial woes in part on the poor settlement under the government's Fairer Funding Review, which saw its budget gap widen by £24m over the coming years. The settlement meant funding for the council would only increase by 3.8pc over the next three years, compared to an average 15pc for authorities across the country, with non-council tax income actually set to reduce.
Greater Manchester MP Angela Rayner has been reappointed as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – the department responsible for council settlements. She had previously held the role in Sir Keir Starmer's Government until September 2025 when she resigned after a stamp duty breach.
Opposition concerns
Some concern was raised by opposition members over the council's approach to fixing its finances, however. Green councillor Sarah Lester said: “There seems to be a heavy reliance on lobbying to get both increased funding on the temporary accommodation allowances and generally fairer funding allocation as well.”
Financial documents from the council showed an overspend of almost £2m in the early part of this year compared to budget estimates. This was largely driven by costs within adults' and children's services.
However, Coun Ross claimed this was not unusual for early-year budget monitoring reports and was not 'dissimilar' to previous years. The final budget for last year showed an underspend of £2.6m, he said.
Schools deficit
If delivered, savings should see spending in adult social care return to a 'break even' position, with an ultimate underspend hoped for in children's services.
Of further concern is the high costs in the council's schools budgets. While the previous Government pledged to wipe 90pc of debt accrued by councils up to the end of 2025/26, the council is still forecasting a deficit position of around £20m at the end of this financial year – down from £32m at the end of 2025/26.
These costs are currently separate from wider council budgets and financial support from the Government is expected to continue until March 2028. However, after that point councils will need to meet any remaining deficits from their own budgets with Trafford council saying it needs to 'plan ahead and begin setting aside sufficient reserves' for that eventuality.
Interest on the schools debt is currently costing the council £1.2m a year.
Corporate director for place Richard Roe told the chamber: “As good as our plan is, the difficulty we've got with the level of funding we receive for our high needs budget inevitably means [...] that deficit will still grow.”
He added: “So a combination of a plan supplemented by the capital provision as well should help us to some degree, but we won't be in a position in a couple of years' time of not having a deficit without further support from the Government, that's for sure.”
