Cuts to library opening hours to be reversed as council’s ‘financial outlook’ improves

The decision comes days after a public consultation on the plans closed. Photograph: Hackney Council

Hackney Council’s proposal to cut library opening hours in the borough is set to be reversed as a result of new government funding.

In October 2025 the council said it would review opening hours across Hackney’s eight libraries so it could save over £773,000 amid “severe budget pressures”. The local authority said this was the only way it could avoid shutting any centres for good.

On Friday (6 February), days after the public consultation on the plans had closed, the Mayor of Hackney announced she was going to ask the council to scrap the proposals since the borough’s “financial outlook” had improved.

In a statement, Mayor Caroline Woodley said: “I have always said that if our financial situation changed, I would act. Thanks to a fairer funding agreement from central government we now have the breathing space to reconsider. That is why I am asking the Cabinet to halt the review into reducing library hours.”

She added: “I know how much our libraries mean to our residents. They are safe havens, study spaces for young people, and vital hubs for digital access and community support.”

In December, Mayor Woodley welcomed the government’s multi-year settlement for Hackney and local councils across the country, known as the Fair Funding Review, which “set out a 25 per cent increase in core funding” for the borough over the next three years.

Mayor Woodley said the money would fund ‘vital’ services. Photograph: Hackney Council

She said the cash injection would be used for hundreds of “vital” council services including parks, libraries, youth clubs and street cleaning.

The Mayor’s proposal to end the review will be presented to the council Cabinet at its next meeting. If approved, all library operating hours will stay the same.

The plans to reduce opening times had provoked a fierce backlash from unions in the borough, who attacked the council for “salami-slicing” services. In October, Hackney Unison urged residents to reject all three options for change as set out in the consultation. The union called on the local authority to ask the government for more funding so it could avoid making any cuts to libraries.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Hackney Unison’s libraries lead, Michael Burns, welcomed the decision.

He said: “We had not been made aware that the pending outcome of a Fair Funding Review was a potential mitigation against the cuts […] which would have wielded yet more devastation on the fabric of our communities.

“Our hope now is that Hackney Council commits to keeping our lifeline service open, staffed and safe across the borough.”

Hackney library staff went on strike in 2023 after council bosses announced a major reorganisation of the service. The local authority ended up cutting 19 jobs, arguing that this was necessary to avoid permanent library closures.

Since then, several employees who were made redundant were hired back into the council’s pool of temporary library workers under casual contracts, prompting further criticism from Unison.

The announcement comes as the council marks the completion of its refurbishment of Hackney Central Library, which reopened on February 2.

Meanwhile, the “much-needed” £4.4million refurbishment of the crumbling Stoke Newington Library, first signed off six years ago, is still under way. The centre closed its doors in March 2024, and a contractor was appointed to carry out the revamp in April 2025.

In November, the council said it expected the works to continue “beyond Spring 2026”.