‘Fair funding puts a squeeze on services’
Formulas mean ‘death by a thousand cuts’, says Green
Friday, 11th September — By Finn Logue
Cllr Benali Hamdache
ISLINGTON’S public services are facing “death by a thousand cuts”, the leader of the Green group has warned, if funding formulas do not change.
In recent weeks the Tribune has reported on “reorganisation” plans in both the Town Hall’s data teams, and in libraries across the borough.
Benali Hamdache, who leads the Town Hall opposition group, said that both instances were evidence of how the central Labour government’s “Fair Funding Review” was leaving gaping holes in Islington’s budget.
Mr Hamdache said: “With the current trajectory we are on, we are going to be seeing a reduction in library services and community centres, more schools closed and fewer council homes built, which we so desperately need.
“I am actually sympathetic with my Labour colleagues in the Town Hall, who are having to make difficult decisions on where to make cuts because of a policy implemented by their colleagues in national government.”
The Fair Funding Review was introduced by the Labour government in 2025, and sought to update formulas to calculate how much each local authority receives from central government.
Figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated that inner-London boroughs would be 19 per cent worse off as a result of the policy switch.
In real terms, inner-London boroughs like Islington have seen a reduction in their funding packages over the next three years, meaning savings have to be made. At the council’s last budget, it was expected to need to make savings of £29million before 2029.
“The need to drive these savings is coming out of every section of council services, cuts to back office staff and reorganisation plans. Islington has been cut to the bone since the Tories were in power in 2010,” Cllr Hamdache added.
He said that although he welcomed greater devolution promised by Andy Burnham’s government, the new Prime Minister had “done nothing to fix the chasm” of funding differences.
“What we would like to see is more devolution, more power for local councils and the ability to introduce things like property taxes.
“Because the reality is that if things don’t change from a national government policy, and so far Mr Burnham has done nothing to change it, Islington’s most vulnerable residents will be let down once more.”
After 2029, he said, the biggest risk of the new funding formula was that Islington’s budget would “fall off of a cliff”, posing even greater challenges for both the council and the borough’s residents.
