BRADFORD Council will face “stark decisions” on what it can afford to fund unless it gets more government support to deal with the Coronavirus crisis.

So far Bradford has received around £30.5 million in government support to deal with the increased pressures on taxpayer funded services.

However, at a meeting of the Council’s Executive on Tuesday, members were told that by the end of July, the Council will already have spent more than £39 million above its budget in dealing with the crisis.

Unless more money comes from the Government, the meeting was told Bradford Council could face a £55.5 million budget deficit by the end of the financial year.

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Since the pandemic began the Council has faced increased costs in its social service departments, including spending millions on PPE for Council run care homes, extra support for children in care, providing food parcels for shielded residents, grants to food banks and spending £1.6 million on IT equipment to allow children to do schoolwork at home.

At the same time, income from facilities like leisure centres and car parks has plummeted.

At Tuesday’s meeting, members heard that without more support from government, the Council may have to drastically cut the services it provides in next year’s budget to make up the shortfall.

Chief Executive Kersten England said: “Money from the Government has helped us meet some of the shortfall.

“But by the end of July we’ll still face an £8.5 million shortfall, and by the end of the year we could face a £55.5 million shortfall.

“This would mean we would face some very stark decisions about our priorities and what areas we may have to dis invest in as a Council.”

Chris Chapman, director of finance, said the Council’s financial position in the coming year would depend on a number of factors, including when sports and leisure facilities can re-open. A detailed look at the Council’s finances for the coming year was being drawn up and would be presented to the Executive in Autumn.

Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said that before the pandemic, the Council was facing its healthiest budget in years, with no statutory job cuts. She said: “In February we had a balanced budget and for the first time since I became a Councillor there were no significant cuts to services.

“After 10 years of austerity, it is hard for Councils, and now we have the Covid crisis on top of that. If the government want us to be an active partner in dealing with the crisis, they have to fund us properly.”

Referring to the possible deficit, she said: “This is a significant amount of money, and it is very much the same story in local authorities up and down the country.

“The Government need to make sure that they make more tranches of funding available and realise that local authorities are not able to run this effort just on taxpayer money. They must fund local authorities in helping their efforts fighting Covid -19.