Highlights include:
- School uniform grants for 7,000 starters per year
- £4.9m a year for a new free homecare service
- £1m to help young people with SEND move to adulthood
- A new Meals on Wheels service
- A new Tackling Drugs Taskforce
- £15m of additional investment into the waste service
- Balanced budget with General Fund reserve increased to £25m
Tower Hamlets Council’s proposed three-year budget has set aside significant investment to provide new and additional support for families and vulnerable people as the cost-of-living pressures continue to bite.
The budget also increases the council’s investment in the environment with measures including improved cleanliness and community safety.
Tower Hamlets is already providing a groundbreaking package of support for residents which sets it apart from other local authorities.
The council is the only local authority in the country to provide universal free school meals for both primary and secondary school children saving a family £550 per year, per child; it has provided more than 2,350 grants to support young people in college and university; and has launched Young TH – a new youth service that will have a venue in every ward.
Now, the council is proposing to step up its support even further with £1m a year set aside for new school uniform grants for families with household incomes of up to £50,350. Families will be able to claim £50 per child entering primary school and £150 per child entering secondary school. The proposal would provide 21,000 children with support to buy school uniforms.
Improving the look and safety of the environment remains a top priority. Last year, the council invested an additional £5m in its waste services which has resulted in an extra 72 frontline workers and increasing nighttime and weekend collections.
Proposed major new investment of more than £15m over the next three years will continue the work to make the borough cleaner and greener, starting with an extra £4.2million in funding for the next financial year.
On Community Safety, Tower Hamlets is one of a few London councils to pay the Metropolitan Police for police officers. It funds 26 police officers in addition to other measures including its Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers (THEOs) and a state-of-the-art CCTV system. The proposed budget includes £551,000 a year of additional investment to create a drugs taskforce to work with the police to tackle drugs supply, dealing, exploitation and treatment.
The council will also build on the £3.9m of investment it has made to create its state-of-the-art CCTV service with proposals for an extra £270,000 a year for the next three years to support its expansion, including commercialisation potential which is expected to bring income back into the council.
The budget proposals were agreed at the council’s Cabinet on 8 January as part of a fully costed budget for the next three years and an increase in General Fund reserves from £21.2m to £25m. They will now go for final approval at the Full-Council budget setting meeting on 26 February.
Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman said:
“Tower Hamlets is blazing a trail when it comes to supporting residents and businesses. Free school meals, university and college grants and support measures including council tax discounts and winter fuel allowance grants already set us apart.
“But there is more to come. By generating more income and driving efficiencies, we have been able to set aside nearly £55m more investment into our communities through these budget proposals. That includes free adult homecare, Meals on Wheels and support to buy school uniforms carries on that work.
“At the same time, we are investing more to make our borough safer and cleaner not just for our residents, but to attract more visitors to benefit local businesses and create new economic opportunities.”
Community Resilience Support Fund
The £1m a year grants for school uniforms are part of a wider proposed £2m a year Community Resilience Support Fund package which will help to support residents and families facing ongoing cost-of-living pressures. Additional community and cost-of-living related funding proposals to be supported by the Community Resilience Support Fund, will be further developed in the year ahead.
The new school uniforms support is in addition to ongoing funding for universal free school meals in both primary and secondary schools, and the offer for students to apply for a £600 college grant or a £1,500 university bursary.
Supporting vulnerable residents
The new budget proposes extra support for qualifying vulnerable residents with £4.9m each year to fund free homecare services rather than paying for it themselves. In addition, the budget has set aside £3m for a new Meals on Wheels service.
Our vulnerable younger people will also be supported with measures including £1million a year in new funding to help young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to transition into adulthood.
This added support is on top of the council stepping in to support residents impacted by the government’s removal of the Winter Fuel Payments for pensioners. Last year, the council introduced a local scheme to offer more than 5,000 £175 payments to pensioners who would otherwise miss out. Around 44% of older people in Tower Hamlets live in low-income households, the highest proportion in England. The new budget proposes continuing support of £915,000 for the local scheme over the next two years.
The local winter fuel scheme was launched last month alongside a push to promote an uptake of pension credit applications, and the winter opening of the council’s warm hubs – where residents can get support and advice and a hot drink within a safe space.
Cllr Saied Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Resources and the Cost of Living, said:
“Our budget management has been crucial to the council’s success and continued investment into our communities.
“A year ago, the Local Government Association Peer Review praised our good record of financial management, and it is the continuation of that work that has meant we can provide additional help to our residents.
“This council will always put residents first by protecting and investing further in frontline services. We are proud to put forward a balanced and resilient proposed budget that supports people of all ages, at a time when they need it the most.”
Continued council tax support
In line with government expectations, there is a proposal for a 2.99% increase in general Council Tax and a 2% Adult Social Care precept to help pay for the increasing demand in services for older and vulnerable residents.
Low-income households will continue to be protected from council tax increases with the continuation of one of the most generous local council tax reduction schemes (LCTRS), which will see the poorest households paying no council tax.
The borough currently has the 6th lowest council tax rate in London and plans include an expansion of the council’s new council tax cost of living relief scheme to protect qualifying households from paying the proposed increase in council tax.
Posted on Thursday 9th January 2025