Stockport council leader Mark Hunter has warned residents to expect service cuts as the town hall faces "unprecedented" pressure on its finances.

The council has revealed a budget gap of more than £60 million that needs to be plugged by 2028/29, with huge rises in costs for adult social care, children's services, and support for the homeless.

Sources within the town hall say there is "huge disappointment and worry" at the lack of improvements for council finances since Labour entered government in July.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was contacted for comment.

While Stockport council is not facing bankruptcy, Mr Hunter said the current way of financing local government is "broken" and "not sustainable going forward."

"We cannot continue, as no other authority can, to provide all of the services we're expected to, and that people demand of us, unless there is going to be an injection of cash from somewhere," he added.

Mark Roberts, the council's deputy leader, said: "We still find ourselves in a similar predicament and challenges to what we did previously under the last Conservative government."

In June, the council revealed it had seen a surge in the numbers of people turning up at risk of becoming homeless, a situation that has piled pressure on budgets.

Stockport expects to spend around £1 million on hotels for people facing homelessness this year – a figure up from £180,000 in 2022.

Stockport Town Hall (Image - Alasdair Perry)

Adult social care and children's services are services which are also putting pressure on council budgets.

Cllr Jilly Julian, Stockport's finance lead, said these pressures are not unique to the borough, but social care reform could make "an enormous difference" to the town hall's finances.

She added: "Apart from being the morally right thing to do, it would make an incredible difference to this council if there was talk of social care reform, or acknowledgement of the role of unpaid carers in the economy."

The concerns around the council's budget were played out during its annual budget meeting earlier this year and had real consequences for residents – when the town hall hiked council tax and added £111 to yearly bills for band D equivalent homes.

Cheadle MP Tom Morrison, a former councillor in Stockport until last week, said councils have been left to "pick up the pieces" after huge economic pressures and a cost of living crisis began under the previous Conservative government, influenced by events such as the pandemic and global affairs.

Mr Morrison said Stockport council lost "tens of millions" from its budget during that time, and that national intervention is needed to tackle the problem.

He added: "I will be working hard in Parliament to push for both greater levels of funding and longer term funding commitments for local authorities."

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