Development of the Council’s Financial Strategy

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Development of the Council's Financial Strategy

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Last night (Wednesday, 20 November) Cabinet received an update on the development of the Council's Financial Strategy.

In March 2024, the Council was able to set a balanced budget for 2024/25 without the need to make any significant cuts to front-line services. However, there a number of significant challenges and pressures which need to be addressed.

Cllr Jayne Lonergan, Cabinet Member for Resources, said "The decade of cuts to local government funding from 2010 to 2020 under previous Governments means that the local government sector as a whole is now significantly underfunded.

"The Council's robust approach to financial management has maintained a relatively stable financial position in recent years, but the impact of continued demand for our services - particularly in relation to Adult and Children's Social Care - will put further pressure on Council's budget in the coming years.

"We continue to urge the Government for fairer funding and to allocate it where it is needed the most."

Following the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget Statement last month, the Council is awaiting confirmation of what local government funding it will receive which will be announced in the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025/2026 (expected to be announced on or around 19 December 2024).

Cllr Jayne Lonergan added, "The Government's recent Budget announcement does signal an improvement for the Council's previous financial forecasts which had been based on the former Government's spending plans and approach. However, we do know that demand for social care services continues to increase, so this will present us with pressures if our funding allocation isn't aligned to the significant increases in demand and costs that we are currently experiencing."

The Council is currently developing a financial strategy which will focus on identifying where additional savings can be made, reviewing existing budgets to identify if any areas could reallocate their budget to address priorities, reviewing investment options to address inequalities (access to housing, employment, education and health) and prevention, which would help to reduce demand in the longer-term.

The fully updated budget strategy will be presented to Council in March 2025.

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