Balancing the local authority’s budget

Redbridge local council in London have been trialling an interactive ‘game’, in which residents can choose exactly how to cut their local council services. The Local Government Association announced last week that it would fund the roll-out of the website, YouChoose, which will allow the public to decide which services to protect and where the axe should fall in individual authorities. This was reported in The Times yesterday, in a report saying that “Users will effectively act as council leaders setting budgets for the next four years but the impact of any financial decisions they make will be spelt out once they have finalised their choices.”

It is a game with a purpose - local authorities will take the results into account when they draw up their budgets, in which they are bound to be asked to make cuts of up to 33%. The process gives you a target for the amount to be cut, and also for a maximum of a 5% rise in council tax. As you make your decisions about where to make cuts, and how to adjust revenue, it gives you feedback about the practical consequences of your decisions. If you log on to Redbridge’s website you can try it for yourself - it is quite a simplistic process, but might be helpful to get students thinking about the opportunity costs involved in balancing the local authority’s spending. I would suggest, though, that you ask students to avoid pressing the final ‘Finish’ button, otherwise Redbridge may suddenly find themselves innundated with hundreds of students’ suggestions about how to balance their budget!