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Council news

Budget: How Hackney Council is rising to the challenges

27th February 2025
Like all local authorities, Hackney Council is facing extreme financial challenges. More people rely on local services than ever before, and more council funds are being used in a small number of areas like social care, support for vulnerable children, and housing for people at risk of homelessness. That means difficult decisions, but it doesn’t mean investment in a better Hackney will stop. These are some of the ways the Council is rising to the challenges.Using external fundingThis year’s budget includes £147m in external grants for specific projects, providing extra funds to invest in the borough.Work to transform Amhurst Road and Pembury Circus is now underway as part of the Council’s plan for a greener, safer and healthier Hackney Central, supported by £19m in new ringfenced investment directly from the government.Investing for the long-termThis year’s budget includes more than £500m on capital spending to improve parks, homes, leisure centres and other things the Council owns. This includes £11.4m this year to begin the landmark transformation of Kings Hall Leisure Centre – a major investment now, but one that will provide a state of the art facility for decades to come.Spending to saveFrom children’s homes to temporary accommodation, spending in the right areas now can help the council reduce its costs in the long-term, protecting investment for frontline services.For example, this year’s budget includes spending nearly £2m to upgrade Hackney’s CCTV networks, which helped secure more than 700 arrests last year. By investing in better, more efficient equipment now, it reduces day-to-day operation costs.Protecting frontline servicesThe Council will have to make £25m in savings for 2025-26, and on current estimates over £50m more over the following three years.As much of this shortfall as possible is being made up from changing how the Council works behind the scenes while protecting services for those who need them most. However, where changes are being made to the services for residents, these decisions are being made carefully, transparently and to prioritise the needs of Hackney’s most vulnerable residents first.Find out moreNew council budget agreedMayor Woodley: I want to go further and make Hackney even betterBudget: where our money comes from and how it's spent

"I want to go further and make Hackney even better": Mayor Woodley on the Council's budget

27th February 2025
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 WoodleyMayor of Hackney Find out moreNew Council budget agreedBudget: where our money comes from and how it's spentHow Hackney Council is rising to the challenges

Rising to the challenges: new Council budget agreed

Efforts to tackle the housing crisis, reverse inequality and lead the fight against climate change in Hackney will continue in spite of the financial challenges affecting councils, the Mayor of Hackney has committed after councillors agreed Hackney Council’s new budget for the year ahead.The budget, confirmed yesterday (26 February), means the Council will balance the books for the financial year from April 2025 – despite huge financial pressures that have led other councils to seek extra financial support from the government or raise Council Tax far above standard increases.That has only been possible by Hackney Council making nearly £25m in savings in 2025-26, and taking the unprecedented step of using almost £10m from its reserves to fund services over the next year. The Council will also also receive around £25m more funding from the government than it expected to receive under the previous government.Council Tax bills will rise by the standard 4.99% from April 2025, remaining among the lowest in London, with discounts of up to 90% available to low income households maintained this year. Owners of second properties will see their Council Tax bills doubled for the first time, after double Council Tax bills were introduced for the owners of any home that has sat empty for at least 12 months in April 2024.The majority of the Council’s budget is spent on frontline services targeted at those most in need, with a greater proportion of Council funding being directed towards areas such as social care, homelessness and children’s services, where demand for and the cost of supporting residents has increased.Find out moreMayor Woodley: I want to go further and make Hackney even betterHow Hackney Council is rising to the challengesBudget: where our money comes from and how it's spent
27th February 2025

National Apprenticeship Week event links local residents to exciting work opportunities

Dozens of residents met with local and national employers at Hackney Council’s National Apprenticeship Week event on Tuesday (11 February), where they gained direct access to live apprenticeship opportunities and heard inspiring success stories and advice from current apprentices.The event at Hackney Town Hall progressed the Council’s ambition to provide secure jobs for as many people as possible, linking residents looking for work with training providers and businesses ranging from NHS England to locally based contractors such as Marlborough Highways and Purdy.Hackney Council’s own apprenticeship programme caters for a wide range of local residents, including workers returning to the job market, residents facing disadvantages, and people looking for opportunities to work on construction sites brokered through planning agreements.Apprentices at Hackney have shared advice to others during National Apprenticeship Week, based on their experiences.Find out more about apprenticeships at Hackney Council
12th February 2025

Pioneering community safety project expands to E9

A pioneering project that has been praised as a model for addressing crime and antisocial behaviour is to be rolled out across other neighbourhoods in Hackney.From this week, football sessions led by Leyton Orient football club, mobile phone marking, additional enforcement patrols and increased street cleaning will be among an initial three-week intensive programme of activities taking place across the E9 area.The project follows a similar initiative in the Gilpin Square area last year that included increasing police patrols, upgrading the CCTV system, removing abandoned vehicles, new planting, removing graffiti, jet-washing pavements, repairing street lights and creating a new community art mural.It’s based on an innovative approach to community safety which suggests that visible signs of crime and antisocial behaviour encourages further law-breaking.The clean up project has contributed to a reduction in crime by a third in just one year. Metropolitan Police data reveals there were 99 crimes committed between January and April 2023, and 69 during the same period in 2024.Anthony Goodman, a professor of criminal and community social justice at Middlesex University, who grew up in Stoke Newington and co-authored a report praising the project, said: “I really believe in the broken windows theory and that this project could work with other London estates. This project inspired confidence in the local community and its organisations and the belief they are not being forgotten.”The Council's Community Gangs Team was set up in 2010 to take a holistic approach to tackling crime. This means they work closely with residents, with a particular focus on young people and those who are at risk of becoming involved in gang violence, to resolve the social, educational, mental health and other factors that can lead to serious crime.The team provides varied and flexible support - from organising free sports sessions for young people, to providing training and mentoring opportunities, or renovating community spaces. They work with the community and partners to set up local initiatives that make the area look and feel safer.
10th February 2025

Statutory notice period begins on proposed changes to six Hackney primary schools

A 28-day representation period on proposals to close four Hackney primary schools and merge the children from two of them into two other schools will begin on 6 February.This follows the Council’s Cabinet decision on 27 January to proceed to the next step in  proposed changes affecting six Hackney primary schools, as a result of the significant decrease in the borough’s pupil numbers.The proposals can be accessed in full on the Council’s consultation website from 6 February, and include:Closing St Mary’s Church of England Primary School;Closing St Dominic’s Catholic Primary School;Closing Oldhill Community School, and merging its pupils with those from nearby Harrington Hill Primary School;Closing Sir Thomas Abney Primary School, and merging its pupils with those from nearby Holmleigh Primary School;Enlarging Harrington Hill Primary School from one to two forms of entry and adding the special educational provision that was previously offered at Oldhill;Enlarging Holmleigh Primary School from one to two forms of entry and adding the special educational provision that was previously offered at Sir Thomas Abney. Holmleigh would move to the current site of Sir Thomas Abney, which is large enough to accommodate the children from both schools.  Local authorities are required by law to publish specific proposals as part of the process of opening and closing schools or making significant changes to existing schools. The proposals, first announced in September last year, are in response to an ongoing decline in the number of school-aged children observed  across London, which has led to 23% of the reception places in Hackney being unfilled in October 2024. Any person may object to or make comments on the proposals within four weeks of the date of their publication by:visiting the websiteemailing school.sufficiency@hackney.gov.uk, or writing to: School Sufficiency & Estates Team, Hackney Council - Hackney Service Centre, 1 Hillman Street, London, E8 1DYThe last date for receiving responses is 5 March 2025, 5 pm.Final decisions will be made by the Council’s Cabinet in April 2025. If the decision is to proceed, the proposed changes would take effect on 31 August 2025.
5th February 2025