Issue - meetings

To consider a report of Cabinet regarding the overall financial strategy for dealing with the budget gap to 2025/26 in light of the various options available to the County Council and the high level outcomes from the public consultation exercise on balancing the budget.

The Council considered the report of Cabinet setting out the overall financial strategy for dealing with the budget gap to 2025/26 in light of various options available to the Council and the high level outcomes from the publication consultation exercise on balancing the budget.

In presenting the report the Leader highlighted that since 2018 the Council had repeatedly highlighted that if the funding regime for local government did not change, the Council would not be financially sustainable in the longer term as it could not continue to make savings in other services to fund the demand pressures faced across social care, special educational needs and school transport services.  This position was brought to the attention of Government again in 2022 in the Council’s joint letter with Kent County Council, making it clear that if there wasn’t change in the medium term, the Council would not be financially sustainable, given that by 2023/24 it will have taken £640m from its budgets over the last 13 years.

By 2025/26, based on current information from Government, the Council would be in the position for the first time of being unable to close the predicted two year budget gap of £132m through the identification of recurring savings alone.  The proposals represented some very difficult choices however, the County Council must set a balanced budget by law.

The Leader reported that he would be sending a further letter after the meeting, which he would be asking Hampshire MPs to support, urging the Government to provide more support to Councils in the 2024/25 settlement with a view to fundamentally changing the way that local government is funded in the next Comprehensive Spending Review.  The Leader had also met with a range of other County Council Leaders and it was clear that all were facing the same position.  A joint letter from those Leaders would be sent to the Chancellor to add further weight to the voice of local government.

Despite the challenges faced, the County Council’s financial prudence and the strength of the position of its reserves mean that the Council remains confident that it can balance the budget in 2025/26, assuming there were no further major financial shocks.

The Leader drew attention to the proposed range of stage 2 consultations that would commence in the new year, which would be seeking residents and stakeholders’ views on the options under consideration for changing services from April 2025 onwards.  The Leader encouraged everyone to participate in the consultation exercise.

Despite the challenging circumstances faced, the Leader was pleased to report that the County Council continues to provide some of the highest performing services in the country whilst still investing in new projects, in particular:

·         Children’s Services are outstanding and after 10 years of supporting the Isle of Wight Children’s Services, the County Council would be leaving that relationship in the knowledge that they have the skills and processes to ensure children remain safe on the island and educational standards have increased significantly.

·         £22.5 million investment into highways  ...  view the full minutes text for item 191