Council tax to rise by 3.99 per cent as Doncaster Council passes budget and attempts to find £18million in savings

The borough’s directly-elected mayor said the road ahead was still challenging and if the Government did not start providing adequate funding through its Fair Funding Review, councils would be ‘doomed to failure’.

The proposals set out include a council tax rise of 3.99 per cent - two per cent of which is ring fenced for adult social care.

Residents in band A properties will see bills rise by £2.66 a month.

Mayor Jones reiterated that Doncaster was at a disadvantage as the council tax element of the 1.99 per cent rise only brings in just over £1 million - considerably less than more affluent areas in the south of England.

The budget proposals are estimated to result in a reduction of full time equivalent posts in some services.

This is estimated to be 86 for the council and 15 for the Children’s Trust over a three year period.

This equates to 58 in 2020/21, 19 in 2021/22 and 24 in 2022/23. To achieve the savings, the council will initially look to delete vacant posts, then seek volunteers, then redeployment with compulsory redundancy being the last resort.

Addressing councillors at Civic Office, Mayor Jones said: “The journey ahead is still a challenging one with ambitious savings which need to be achieved to meet our budget gap of £17.7 million over three years.

“We need to note the sheer scale of the challenge that we as an authority have had to endure since 2010. Since that time, funding to DMBC has been cut by 51 per cent and the huge majority of 64 per cent of the budget we have is spent on looking after vulnerable children and adults.

“Local taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for a decrease in Government grant funding.

“I say to the Prime Minister and the new Chancellor - give local government the resources to provide the level of services that people need and deserve - not just one off pots of money which makes long term planning impossible.