Early Council budget consultation – have your say on financial pressures

The consultation is to gauge public opinion on the pressures faced and how they should be managed. 

The Council is projected to have a funding shortfall of £84.6m over the next four years, with £30m of that relating to 2025-26.

The Council experienced unprecedented increase in demand for its services in 2023/24, including an additional £13.9m on Education (Additional Learning Needs), Adults and Children’s Social Care and Housing (Homelessness.  

An additional £17m has been added for 2024-25 but this is unlikely to be enough to fund these pressures.

The consultation seeks your views on:

• How would you generate the money needed (estimated £30m) for 2025-26 in order to balance the budget?
• How much would you increase Council Tax by in order to ensure a balanced budget?
• How much would you reduce service budgets by in order to ensure a balanced budget?
• Any other suggestions for budget savings or for balancing the budget?

The responses to this consultation will assist in informing the development of the Council’s budget for 2025-26.

The closing date for completed responses is Sunday, 29th September 2024. 

 You can give your views by completing our online response form.

You can also give your views using a paper copy of the response form. Call 01437 764551, so we can make arrangements to send this to you. 

A more detailed budget consultation will be undertaken at the end of the calendar year, including a series of Facebook Live sessions to allow public discussion on the budget between September 2024 and March 2025.