Council asks for extra help to balance budget

A council is seeking financial help from the government because of budget shortfalls caused by homelessness support.

Worthing Borough Council voted to send a letter to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) asking for help to balance its budget.

A £2.53m budget shortfall is forecast for 2025/26, despite the council having a more "resilient and sustainable" financial strategy, a cabinet report says.

This year, 19 councils were given exceptional financial support, allowing money that is usually ringfenced to be used to balance its day-to-day or revenue budget costs, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Worthing's cabinet member for resources, John Turley, said the local authority would be looking to use borrowing from the government and capital receipts from developers to fund the gap.

"We will be asking MHCLG to address our central funding gap associated with homelessness and the support accommodation subsidy," he said.

"At this stage we can't say how much we'll need to borrow."

Opposition leader Kevin Jenkins said he had "grave concerns" that the government was "only a few steps away" from declaring effective bankruptcy if no support is granted.

Cabinet papers said in 2023/24, although Worthing had the second-highest number of households in temporary accommodation, it received less government support than other West Sussex councils per head.

It said the average funding received per household from the government's Homelessness Prevention Grant in Worthing was £929 compared to the county average of £3,362.

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