A budget gap of just over £8m looks to have been plugged by Bexley Council as it prepares to file next year’s budget.

In November councillors were told that millions needed to be found if the council was to balance its books.

Officers now say they have found the much-needed £8m for this year, but have warned a gap still need to be sorted by 2022.

Council leader Teresa O’Neill and her cabinet are set to sign off on the council’s draft budget at a meeting next week.

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According to a new report: “From the mid-2000s the council has faced a steady decline in Government funding and has had to be reliant on finding efficiencies and other sources of income to deliver the budget strategy.

“However, since 2011/12 an accelerated rate of reduction in funding, at an unprecedented level, has resulted in the identification of savings being the dominant activity in the council’s financial planning process.

“In November 2018, the revised budget gap was expected to be £8.982m for 2019/20, increasing to around £36.631m by 2022/23.

“The current planning assumption is a balanced budget in 2019/20, increasing to around £31.445m in 2022/23.”

Bexley Council has lost more than half its funding from Westminster since 2010.

In order to balance the books, officers put forward just over £2m worth of savings – including scaling back “high cost” services such as support services for disabled residents and reviewing how transport for adults and children with special needs is provided.

Other cuts include taking £35,000 from the tree planting pot from 2020/21 and halving its budget for “friends of parks groups”.

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A major source of cash for the council comes from its fees and charges, some of which are set to be hiked up in the next year as the authority works towards “self-sufficiency”.

“The actual delivery of savings remains critical to the budget and to financial planning for the future,” officers said.

“The council has been extremely successful at the identification and delivery of savings and delivered over £100m since 2011 while at the same time managing within these reduced budgets.”

There is also a list of proposed investments yet to be signed off, including £3m into safety equipment and technoclogy for social care, road maintenance and cash for community schools. 

Councillors are still yet to sign off on final cuts and savings, with another special scrutiny meeting planned for next month with the council’s final budget to be agreed in March.