Oxfordshire County Council has announced that its budgetary shortfall has increased by just over £2 million for 2024/25 as a result of the government’s provisional Local Government Financial Settlement.
In December, the government outlined its plans for how local authorities around the country will be funded across 2024/25. As the funding will not fully meet the financial challenges that councils are facing, many are still struggling to produce balanced budgets.
One such council is Oxfordshire County Council, which has confirmed that the £9.1 million funding gap it faces, has now increased to £11.2 million with grant funding not meeting expectations. This has ensured that a budget of more than £614 million has been projected by the council, however, this has been drafted based on council tax increases of nearly 5%, which will not be confirmed until the 20th February. This increase will include ringfenced adult social care funding of 2%.
The council did propose, in November, to save almost £10 million, however, these plans were altered by the government’s funding announcement.
Cabinet Member for Finance at Oxfordshire County Council, Cllr Dan Levy, said:
“We did not receive any additional money to close what was a £9.1m gap when we first published our draft budget in late November.
“The government has spoken widely about a 6.5% increase of funding to local government. Sadly, this is a case of smoke and mirrors. This increase assumes councils take the maximum council tax rise and includes funding announced this time last year. There is nothing new in this sum at all.
“Local government as a whole has expressed its deep disappointment. We are clearly now going to have to take some really tough decisions.
“As has been known since late November our budget proposals for 2024/25 already include more than £9.8m of savings. The whole of local government was already looking at the second half of the decade with great concern and the government’s announcement on 18th December did nothing to alleviate those concerns.
“Our track record of responsible financial management means that Oxfordshire County Council has been in a more resilient position than many other authorities. However, the overall position is extremely challenging and additional savings will need to be found.”
Councils across England are facing financial challenges, with demand for services increasing. Other factors that have played a role in the prolonged struggles include a slower decrease in inflation, as well as high-cost levels for energy, fuel, services and staffing.
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