"I want to go further and make Hackney even better": Mayor Woodley on the Council's budget
Hackney is London’s best borough. That’s why I made it my home many years ago, raised my son here, and in 2023 took up the huge honour of becoming Mayor of Hackney.
Across the country, councils face big financial challenges. More people rely on us than ever before, and more of our funds are being used in a small number of areas like social care, support for vulnerable children, and temporary homes for people at risk of homelessness.
By law we have to balance our budget, so this year we have to make nearly £25m in savings and increase the Council’s element of your Council Tax bill by 4.99% from April. We also plan to use £10m from the Council’s reserves to help fund services over the next year – a move that is not sustainable and that we will be unable to repeat in future years.
These steps help us remain stable at a time where other councils are forced into asking the government to permit them to borrow extra money, seeking to raise Council Tax far above standard increases, or cutting back on Council Tax discount support for low-income families.
Our Council Tax rates are still among the lowest in London, and this year we are maintaining discounts of up to 90% for working households on low incomes.
Your contributions also mean that we can continue to provide vital support for Hackney residents. They fund foster carers, pay for the growing cost of providing social care, and put a roof over the heads of families hit hardest by Hackney’s housing crisis.
As your Mayor, doing my best to protect the most vulnerable is my priority.
But I want to go further and make Hackney even better – by tackling the housing crisis head on, addressing the root causes of poverty and inequality, and continuing to lead the way in the fight against climate change.
Doing that when budgets are stretched will mean rising to the challenge and doing things differently. We will inevitably still have tough choices to make. We will need to change how we work to reduce costs while improving services, invest now to save money in the long-term, and seek extra funding to deliver on our ambitions.
We’ll need to work together, and change together. But by doing so, we can build a fairer, safer, greener and healthier Hackney, for everyone.
Caroline Woodley
Mayor of Hackney