Suffolk County Council says 'difficult decisions' are needed to balance the books
The authority says, in the next two years, it needs to make £64.7 million of savings
Local leaders in Suffolk are warning difficult decisions are needed to balance the books.
Suffolk County Council says, in the next two years, it needs to make £64.7 million of savings.
The authority explains that because it's been hit hard by inflation and rising demand for services such as children’s care, special educational needs and disabilities and home to school transport.
In turn, as part of the council's plans to prioritise those in greatest need, it's proposing an additional £42.7 million for children’s services and £29.9 million for adult care.
The two-year savings proposals include:
- £11 million of staffing costs through changing the way services are delivered and restructuring across the council
- £30.6 million of additional savings from an extension of the council’s Adult Social Care Transformation programme, which has focused on reducing demand for more expensive social care options by boosting people’s independence and ability to stay well for longer through methods including cutting edge care technology
- £0.5 million of savings by stopping core funding to Art and Museum sector organisations
- £140,000 of savings by centralising Suffolk Archives to The Hold and closing the branches in West and East Suffolk
- £15.9 million of reserves will be used to balance the 2024/25 budget
"Challenging"
Councillor Richard Rout, Suffolk County Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and environment, said: “This is the most challenging budget-setting process the council has faced for many years. But once again, we are putting adult and children’s care at the heart of our plans.
“However, in order to ensure appropriate levels of funding for these key services, and those most in need in Suffolk, we must make difficult decisions about all the other services we deliver, and how we deliver them.
“This is necessary because the demand on council services for those most in need in Suffolk is at an all-time high. The cost of providing many of those services is significant, but the funding that we need is not keeping up. Across the country, councils are having to make similar tough choices.
“Our proposed budget next year will be around £752 million, of which £105m alone is down to these cost pressures from inflation and increased demand.
“We are a well-run council and over the last five years, we have saved £66 million by working smarter and leaner. But we now need to go even further.
“We have spent months scrutinising all the council’s spending. There is competition for every pound across all our services, and I understand that each service means something to someone.”