Newcastle launches online budget simulator

Newcastle City Council is using the latest technology to help it deal with its budget dilemmas by launching an online budget simulator to tackle £20 million of cuts.

The council is looking to save £20 million next financial year and is part of a three-year plan to save £60 million in total, having been forced to cut more than £250 million from their budget over the last eight years.

The People’s Budget simulator encourages users to eliminate the £20 million gap in the council’s budget by a combination of reducing spend in different areas of the council and generating income such as increasing parking charges. As users cut the budget in different areas, it produces breaking news headlines so that users can experience the challenges of setting a budget.

Nick Forbes, leader of the Council said “Every year the council is faced with difficult decisions as the financial situation gets worse. We are still faced with the prospect of being on our own from 2020 when funding from central government stops.
 
“We’ve shielded our residents from these cuts as much as we can by making efficiencies and investing to secure our city’s future. But services have been hit and as long as cuts to funding continue, and demand for services increase, inevitably we’ll be forced to deliver fewer services.
 
“We’ve launching the online budget simulator so that we can listen to as many people as possible given how much we’ve been forced to save. There are difficult decisions to be made, hopefully residents can get a better understanding so that they can contribute their ideas to help us shape a balanced budget.”