LEEDS City Council is bracing itself for new spending cuts as it faces an “eye-watering” budget gap of £273m over the next five years.

Latest figures show the financial shortfall for the council is more than £106m for next year alone.

Building closures, job losses and new parking charges were already introduced by the council, which had to find £63.9m of savings this financial year.

The financial position was reported to the council’s executive board on September 18 by deputy leader Debra Coupar.

Cllr Coupar said local authorities around the country had already faced 14 years of under-funding from central government.

She said: “After such a long time it gets more difficult to be able to make the savings, because we have squeezed everything we potentially can from those areas.”

Much of the overspend for Leeds came from the rising cost of children’s and adult social care, Cllr Coupar said.

Cllr Alan Lamb, leader of the city’s Conservative group, said: “The gap for next year is eye-watering.”

At the end of 2023/24, the council managed to balance its budget after digging into cash reserves and receiving a refund on transport spending from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

The latest financial report said the ongoing use of one-off funding sources, including reserves, would not be sustainable.

Freezes on recruitment and non-essential spending were set to continue at the council.

The meeting was told an increase in the cost of placing children in care outside the city was among the growing budget pressures.

Julie Longworth, director of children and families, said the council would be providing more in-house residential care.

She said: “There is clear action underway to increase our provision.”

Councils are required to set balanced budgets or be required to file a section 114 notice, effectively declaring bankruptcy.

Previous measures to balance the budget for Leeds included increasing council tax by 4.98 per cent for this year.

The report said the estimated General Fund gap for Leeds was £273.7m over the five years to 2029/30. Some £106.7m of that figure related to 2025/26.

It said: “Reviews are underway across the authority to identify opportunities to continue to modernise and improve services, reduce costs and generate additional income.”

New savings proposals would be brought to executive board for consideration this autumn.