Leeds City Council Budget 2014/15: 2. The impact of three years of Coalition Government on Leeds

As we reported in our last post, the income available to Leeds City Council has been reduced dramatically over the last three years – since the LibDem/Tory Coalition came into power.

Since 2011/12 Local Government funding has been reduced nationally by 43%.

Here in Leeds, the Council has felt these pressures. In its attempts to meet the tightened situation the Council has been forced to make huge savings.

In this second of our series of posts on the 2014/15 Leeds Budget, we consider what has been forced on the City over the last three years.

The scale of those cuts is such that a rise in Council tax is now necessary.

The Last Three Years

£200m has already been saved.

First by massive staff reductions

– By the end of March 2013, 1850 staff had left the Council, including a quarter of all senior managers

– 406 more staff…