Somerset Council says it is facing a budget gap of £52.2m for next year, despite finding new savings of £48m which includes £34m of savings by reducing numbers of staff and managers employed.
The authority says it will again be using Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) agreed by the Government to set a balanced budget for 2025/26.
Papers published ahead of the council’s Scrutiny Corporate & Resources meeting on 24th February show that as cost pressures in Children’s and Adults Social Care continue to increase nationally, Somerset Council is facing a gap of around £52.2m for 2025/26.
The Council applied to the Government for financial support and has been allowed to increase Council Tax by 7.5%, more than the usual cap of 5%.
If approved at Full Council on 5th March, this would mean a band D property paying an additional £129 a year, or £2.49 a week.
However, the 7.5% increase would generate an additional £9.1m, meaning the Council will again need a Capitalisation Direction to close the gap of £43m. This is a form of one-off assistance offered by Government last year which allows the Council to sell assets or borrow money and use the proceeds to fund the budget gap and the day-to-day running costs.
Cllr Bill Revans, Leader of Somerset Council, says: “The Government has promised to reform the broken system of funding for local councils like Somerset who are struggling with rising demand and costs for core services like social care. Unfortunately, this will take time that we simply do not have.”
“In the short-term we’ve had no choice but to ask the Government for support and that very sadly means we will have to take a difficult vote on putting up Council Tax bills by the maximum amount allowed.”
“We know this is unwelcome, but Council Tax rates in Somerset will remain below the national average, and below many of our neighbours.”
“We will continue to do everything we can to move towards financial sustainability, including exploring all areas to further reduce costs and find savings.”
“We will also continue to lobby Government for a fairer system to provide essential services looking after the most vulnerable adults and children in our communities.”
The budget will now be discussed at the following meetings, with final decisions to set the budget taken at Full Council:
- Extraordinary meeting of Scrutiny Corporate & Resources – 24 February
- Extraordinary meeting of the Executive – 3 March
- Revised Full Council meeting date – 5 March
The papers published ahead of Scrutiny can now be found at https://democracy.somerset.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=199&MId=7354. The public are encouraged to attend the meetings either in person or online.
