tax<\/a> by 8.99 per cent from April 2026.<\/p>\nIf it does, it would be the second such increase in a row \u2013 after Newham council tax went up by 8.99 per cent in April this year.<\/p>\n
The proposal is one of a package of suggestions presented to the council\u2019s cabinet when it meets next Thursday.<\/p>\n
Other options for consideration include increasing fees and charges, closing children\u2019s centres, moving to fortnightly bin collections, reducing street cleaning and cutting staff.<\/p>\n
The first draft budget for 2026\/27 is set to be published in December, at which point it should become clear what options have been chosen.<\/p>\n
This month\u2019s finance report says that the council would save \u00a310 million if it adopted all of the proposed measures. However, it says it may still have to ask the Treasury for a package of exceptional financial support next year.<\/p>\n
Such packages can include permission to increase council tax beyond the normal 4.99 per cent cap. They often also include permission to use the proceeds of property sales to pay for day-to-day spending.<\/p>\n
The council was among one of 30 local authorities to be granted exceptional financial support this year. It says as many as 100 councils could request this next year.<\/p>\n
Local authorities across the country are still struggling to cover spending as demand and costs for services rise \u2013 particularly for social services, and for temporary homelessness accommodation.<\/p>\n
All of these are services the council legally must provide.<\/p>\n
The financial report to Newham\u2019s cabinet says the rise in councils seeking exceptional support shows there remains a \u201cgap\u201d between what local authorities are required to provide and the money they have to fund them.<\/p>\n
The cost of providing temporary accommodation in Newham is forecast to grow by \u00a312.8 million next year, it states.<\/p>\n
However, the report also says the council still has \u201cconsiderable agency\u201d in how it spends its money and cabinet members will have to make \u201cpolitical choices\u201d over which of the \u201csavings\u201d proposals it chooses to include in its budget.<\/p>\n
Here are some of the proposals that residents might notice the most.<\/p>\n
The proposals suggest asking the government for permission to raise council tax by 8.99 per cent.<\/p>\n
Council tax increases are normally limited to 4.99 per cent. But an increasing number of local authorities have asked the government for permission to raise council tax above this cap as they face rocketing costs.<\/p>\n
If the council increases the amount it charges by 8.99 per cent next year, a Band D property\u2019s annual bill would rise to \u00a31,488.35. That\u2019s an increase of \u00a3122.77.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t include the amount that the Greater London Authority charges, however.<\/p>\n
The council says that even with this increase, Newham\u2019s council tax would still be below the London average. It says that, assuming all other London councils raise council tax by 4.99 per cent next year, the average amount for Band D properties in the capital would be \u00a31,592.63.<\/p>\n
Bin collections and street cleaning<\/p>\n
General waste and recycling waste collections could be reduced from weekly to fortnightly according to one proposal. In other areas where this has happened, this usually means they are collected on alternate weeks.<\/p>\n
Proposals also say this could mean \u201creducing pool staff in the waste management service\u201d.<\/p>\n
Weekly collections would stay for flats, however.<\/p>\n
Street cleaning could also be reduced. The proposals say a 20 per cent reduction would save the council \u00a31.3 million. \u201cTidy teams\u201d who tackle fly-tipping could be scrapped or reduced.<\/p>\n
Schools, children and education<\/p>\n
Stratford Youth Zone could be closed, while children\u2019s centres could be merged with family hubs.<\/p>\n
Proposals also suggest \u201creviewing the delivery model\u201d of services at Fairplay House, an outdoor children\u2019s activities centre the council owns in Witham, Essex. They say the council could consider \u201can outsourced alternative\u201d.<\/p>\n
School crossing patrols \u2013 \u201clollipop\u201d people \u2013 could be scrapped, according to a separate proposal.<\/p>\n
The number of child social workers could also be reduced, and caseloads would increase for those who remain.<\/p>\n
More families needing temporary accommodation to avoid homelessness could be housed \u201cin more affordable areas\u201d outside of Newham, according to the proposals.<\/p>\n
The rising demand for temporary accommodation, and the cost of providing it, is a major pressure on the council\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
By law, councils have to provide temporary accommodation to vulnerable people facing homelessness, such as families.<\/p>\n
But rising costs and demand mean that \u201cNewham is facing a housing emergency of unprecedented scale\u201d.<\/p>\n
The council says temporary accommodation costs \u00a3100 million a year.<\/p>\n
Its plans to reduce costs include finding more long-term homes for homeless families, and also renegotiating fees it pays to temporary accommodation suppliers who charge nightly rates.<\/p>\n
However, the council also says the availability of suitable, affordable homes in Newham is \u201cinsufficient\u201d. That means it will review its policy on where it could place homeless families.<\/p>\n
This could include \u201cincreasing use of out-of-borough placements in more affordable areas\u201d.<\/p>\n
Care packages for adults could be changed.<\/p>\n
The proposals say the council wants to reduce the number of small care packages it provides for older people, and make \u201cdeep dives into high-cost packages\u201d.<\/p>\n
The budget for events, heritage and culture could be reduced \u201cto a minimum,\u201d according to the report. It warns: \u201cOnly a select number of events would continue to be supported.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council staff could face a number of changes to their pay and conditions.<\/p>\n
One proposal says the council could \u201camend\u201d its London Living Wage commitment.<\/p>\n
The commitment means the council pays all its own staff at least the London Living Wage and only commissions services from companies that do the same.<\/p>\n
The proposed change says this would remain in place for \u201ckey London based workforces\u201d. But there would be \u201cmore flexibility\u201d for commissioned services \u201cwhich are less London focused\u201d.<\/p>\n
In other changes, the council could end the three-day shutdown of its offices over Christmas, exit national pay and conditions agreements, and \u201cchanging and improving\u201d sickness absence management.<\/p>\n
Staff on teachers, public health or NHS terms could also be moved on to local authority pay, terms and conditions.<\/p>\n
The proposals say: \u201cAt the extreme end, exiting national pay terms and conditions and then not granting a pay award would save around \u00a35 million.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Council tax in Newham could go up by 9 per cent again next year while children’s\u2019 centres, bin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,487,932,393,4884,257,46717,1200,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-509303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-cost-of-living","10":"tag-council-tax","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-newham","15":"tag-tax","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115394957371350058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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