 Government cuts borough’s real-terms funding
The borough’s finances will be even more stretched next year with the Government cutting our Core Grant funding by £1m.
This real-terms reduction in the Government’s grant to run local services was announced earlier this week and we will scrutinise the details before we set our budget for 2025/26 in February.
Most of our spending goes on looking after the most vulnerable, including support for people of all ages with physical disabilities, learning difficulties, mental health issues and other care needs, as well as special educational needs.
This accounts for more than 60 per cent of our budget, and the needs of our residents are increasing in these areas - as is the cost of providing the services required.
However, the Government hardly considers this in its calculations, so we’re joining other voices calling for increased support for councils like us that provide adult and children’s social care.
Alongside Government policy changes on National Insurance and the national minimum wage, this latest announcement will increase the £5.5 million funding shortfall for 2025/26 which we reported in October.
 Choice and quality of childcare recognised
A new Ofsted report has named Wokingham Borough as the best place for childcare in England, as well as having one of the lowest levels of children and young people missing school.
This report included research done with the Office for National Statistics, which looked at how easily families can access childcare across the country.
They examined the number of childcare spots available for every 100 children and labelled areas as ‘deserts’ or ‘oases’— with deserts having the least access and oases having the most access to high-quality childcare.
Wokingham Borough topped the table for neighbourhoods in local authorities with the highest proportion of oases in England.
The report also looked at school attendance, in particular those children and young people who are persistently absent from school, described as those who miss more than 10 per cent of their schooling.
Wokingham Borough has a persistent absentee rate of 14 per cent, which makes it the fourth lowest area in the country, not far behind the lowest area which has a rate of 12.4 per cent. This is reflected in the borough’s overall absence levels of 5.67 per cent, also the fourth lowest in the country.
 Last Saturday for free bus travel before Christmas
Tomorrow (Saturday 21 December) is the final day of free bus travel this festive season.
You can board any local bus services from bus stops within the borough and travel for free. Remember you may need to pay for a return journey if travelling out of the borough.
It’s being funded from a grant which was awarded by the Department for Transport (DfT) for bus improvements, meaning there is no extra cost. You can see a full list of services and check timetables on our website.
 Get control of your energy costs with expert help
Get the help you need to take control of your energy bill by attending a session hosted by Citizens Advice Wokingham early next year.
The charity is offering advice as part of the upcoming Big Energy Saving Fortnight (13 to 24 January), showing people how they can save money this winter. Drop-in sessions are running on:
- Tuesday 14 January - Woodley Library (10am to 2pm) or Tesco, Wokingham (9.30am to 12noon) or Morrisons, Woosehill (1pm to 3.30pm)
- Wednesday 15 January - Asda, Lower Earley (9.30am to 3.30pm)
- Thursday 16 January - Wokingham Library (10am to 2pm) or Swallowfield Parish Hall (10am to 1pm) or School Green Centre, Shinfield (1.30pm to 3.30pm)
- Saturday 18 January - Asda, Lower Earley (9.30am to 3pm)
- Tuesday 21 January - Woodley Library (10am to 2pm) or Woodley Foodbank (9.30am to 12noon) or Waitrose, Twyford (1pm to 3.30pm)
- Wednesday 22 January - Woodley Precinct (9.30am to 3pm)
- Thursday 23 January - Wokingham Library (10am to 2pm) or Arborfield Community Centre (10m to 1pm) or SHARE at Arborfield British Legion (2pm to 4pm)
You can get help with energy efficiency ideas, tariffs and meters, Winter Fuel and Cold Weather Payments and more. You can also book an appointment with the Energy Advice Team by email or by calling 0808 278 7958.
Woodley Town Council is consulting on potential improvements to its studio theatre space at The Oakwood Centre. As part of this they want to know what residents would like to see on its programme of futures. Take the survey to give your views.
 Your most read stories of 2024
In case you missed them, here’s a list of our most read updates for residents this year:
- Grab your green bags to prepare for waste changes
- Free festive bus travel returns
- Changes approved for Parliamentary constituencies and ward boundaries
- 2024 local election results
- New bins arrive in borough as rollout approaches
- New partnership for sports and leisure offer for older residents
- Sign up for garden waste collections for greener future
- Roots Community Store opens its doors
- Checkout the good news as supermarket plans agreed
- California Cross workers face unacceptable abuse
What you might have missed
Here’s all our email newsletter updates from the last week:
If you’re interested in getting these updates directly, you can sign up on our website.
Our last Residents’ Round-up of the year will be on Tuesday (24 December), which will cover everything you need to know about our services during the festive break.
We’ll return to regularly sending this newsletter twice per week on Tuesday 7 January.
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