Somerset Council preparing 'unprecedented actions' to fill £100m budget gap

Somerset Council say they're proposing 'unprecedented actions' in a bid to bridge the current budget gap of £100 million for the next financial year.

Leader Bill Revans says they've been left with no option but to consider the 'heart-breaking' steps of reducing services - such as closing its five recycling sites and theatres - and increasing council tax by 10 per cent.

Despite the Government announcing extra cash to councils, at an average boost of 6.5%, the local authority declared a financial emergency last year amid financial pressures brought on by things like the increasing cost of social care.

The authority’s ability to respond has been hampered by a historically low Council Tax rate – 49th lowest out of 63 for unitary councils.

There will be an Executive meeting of the Council later this month (January 15) for the local authority to set out a plan to use reserves, make significant savings, impose a Council Tax increase of 10%, and the sale of council assets to set a balanced budget.

They'll also be looking at things like raising parking charges in line with inflation and conducting efficiency savings such as reviewing contracts and IT.

There are also options to spend less by reducing or stopping discretionary services in order to protect its essential statutory services. These include CCTV, public toilets, theatres, leisure services, visitor centres and closing five recycling sites.

They'll continue talks with parish, town and city councils, and community groups in a bid to make sure these services carry on - however, they'd have to be run by these other authorities instead, otherwise Somerset Council say they will have to close.

'Our pleas for assistance have not yet been answered'

Cllr Revans said: “The funding model of local government is broken and our pleas for assistance have not yet been answered. Councils up and down the country are in a similar position and in Somerset we have been hit extra hard by cost inflation in care.

“This is what a financial emergency looks like. No decisions have been made, but all of these savings and the 10% Council Tax increase are unprecedented actions that have to be considered if we are to steer this authority through a period of extreme pressure.

“Officers have done as we asked and left no stone unturned. The result is a set of options, many of which are very unpalatable – some heart-breaking - that no-one would want to take forward.

“Our Council Tax is one of the lowest among the unitary councils which have responsibility for care and we find ourselves having to consider putting it up by 10%. That equates to an extra £3.15 per week for the average household to limit the impact on core services, many of which support the most vulnerable.”

Cllr Revans urged the public to take part in the Council’s budget consultation which runs until 22 January - and you can take part in here.

This will help to influence the decisions of councillors when they do make their final budget later this year.

The papers set out £35m of proposals - £24m are new and will be referred to the Council’s Resources Scrutiny Committee before any decisions are taken.

Further consultations will be carried out on specific proposals where necessary.

At the meeting on 15 January, the Executive will ask Government for flexibility to increase Council Tax by more than the referendum limit to 10% (including the 2% social care precept), which would generate an extra £17.1m and raise the average band D Council Tax bill to £1,810 – still below the unitary average of £1,815.

Cllr Revans said: ”We understand the pressure on everyone’s household budgets and have recently taken steps to ensure that we have a Council Tax Reduction and Hardship scheme in place to protect the most vulnerable in our community from any increase”.

To balance the 2024/25 budget the Council also plans to use £36.8m of reserves.

The remaining gap of around £20m would need to be covered by asking Government for a ‘capitalisation direction’ which would allow the council to borrow money or sell assets to fund day-to-day running costs.

The papers for the Executive meeting can be found online here.

Read more: Report outlines 'stark and challenging' finances at Somerset Council

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