Council Leader Grace Williams blamed inflation, interest rates, and the cost of borrowing for the authority’s financial struggles
Waltham Forest councillors have approved the borough’s budget for 2026/27, adding £113 a year on average to residents’ council tax bills.
The new fiscal plan will see the Labour-led authority accept a £19million loan from the government and hike council tax by 4.99%. Residents living in an average band-D property will pay an extra £113 a year after the changes come into effect on April 1.
Council Leader Grace Williams told councillors last Thursday (February 26) there is “very much in the world we cannot control,” such as “inflation, interest rates, and the cost of borrowing”.
The Waltham Forest Conservatives unsuccessfully tabled a motion to prevent council tax going up by cutting staff figures and equipment budgets. Conservative councillor Afzal Akram said the tax hike was a “confession of failure” and condemned the council for asking residents to pay more “at a time of significant pressure”, though the maximum 4.99% rise is something the vast majority of London boroughs are imposing.
Meanwhile, the loan will effectively function as a line of credit the council can draw from as and when it needs to.
Finance officials previously said they would only use it if it was “absolutely necessary”. Once a council draws from an ‘exceptional financial support’ pot, then it becomes an active loan with interest.
Cllr Williams said it would “help us protect our services that matter most to people” while “balancing the budget in the short term”.
She said it would help keep £30m in the council’s reserves and remove the need for further borrowing. The council had £130m in the pot in 2022, when the current administration was voted in.
In early September, Waltham Forest councillors were told it was set to go over budget by £31.4m.
The main focus of spending over the next year will be on social care and housing, which accounts for 72% of the council’s current expenditure.
Cllr Williams previously described the loan as “financially responsible and morally correct”. The move was again criticised by the Waltham Forest Conservatives, who sit as the official opposition.
Group Leader Emma Best, also a London-wide Assembly Member, referred to the loan as a “£19m credit card on the back of residents” while Tory Deputy Leader, Cllr Akram called the borrowing a “foundation built on sand”.
During the meeting, councillors voted to keep their annual allowances at £13,085.
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