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Saving plans of over £45m to bridge the budget gap

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North Somerset Council’s Executive will meet on Wednesday 4 December to discuss saving proposals and spending reductions totalling £45.8m in a bid to continue to protect key services whilst taking urgent steps to balance its books.

The council warns that ‘tough decisions’ will need to be made. Like many councils across the country, North Somerset Council is facing an unprecedented financial challenge due to increasing demand, particularly in adult and children’s services. 

In order to support and care for increasing numbers of vulnerable adults and children within North Somerset communities, the council has no choice but to consider increasing income and spending less on other services.

At the last Executive meeting in October, the difference between the council’s income and forecast spend was £53m for 2025-28. After considerable focus on reviewing all areas of spend, including proposals published today, this has now significantly reduced to £7.4m – with £2.5m still to find by February for the 2025-26 financial year.

Executive will meet next week to review the list of council savings proposed totalling £45.8m for years 2025 to 2028 - with £21.7m expected to be delivered during the next 2025/26 financial year. More information including a full list of the savings proposed can be found at: Committee Report NSC

Leader of North Somerset Council, Cllr Mike Bell said: “No decisions have yet been made and no stone has been left unturned as we’ve looked to bridge our funding gap. Although the additional funding announced by government was welcome, it wasn’t the financial lifeline we needed. Like many other councils, we still face having to make tough savings decisions which will affect the lives of residents. No one comes into Local Government to make these kind of decisions and we wouldn’t be making these proposals if we didn’t have to. We are urgently asking central government for a ’fair deal’ for North Somerset when they come to issue their Local Government Settlement in December and know they are listening. We are urging the government to break away from years of cuts to council budgets and instead find solutions that will help us rise to the challenge of our current financial emergency.”

Over the last two months, the council has engaged with residents from across the area to hear from people who live and work within our communities to understand the priorities and issues that affect them. This has fed into the council’s planning with all suggestions considered and evaluated. 

A second phase of formal budget consultation will take place shortly, remaining open until the new year. An update will be provided at February Executive so councillors can consider the feedback from local residents and other stakeholders before final decisions on the budget are made.

Cllr Bell added: “As in previous years, the savings list includes some incredibly difficult choices and many of these will be very challenging to deliver as residents will see noticeable reductions to the service we currently provide. However, as the council still has a budget gap of over £2.5m to find for next year with more to find in the future, the council must consider all of these proposals as we try to balance the budget.”

The council will be taking all steps to ensure that proposed budget changes are assessed so it can fully understand the potential equalities impact there might be on protected groups and how these could be mitigated or reduced. 

Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) will be subject to consultation with external stakeholders in December and January. Final EIAs will be published in advance of the February 2025 Executive meeting to enable members to consider any concerns in relation to equality issues before the budget is approved. 

For more information about the 4 December Executive agenda, including a link to the savings proposed, please visit Agenda for Executive on Wednesday, 4th December, 2024, 2.30 pm | North Somerset Council  

For more information about North Somerset Council’s financial challenge, where money is spent, its income, increasing cost of delivering services and the measures it’s taking, please visit www.n-somerset.gov.uk/fairdeal.

Here you can also sign the council’s petition at northsomerset-gov.welcomesyourfeedback.net/s/rux4v. This is calling for the government to provide a fair funding deal to the residents of North Somerset. The petition will be handed to central government by the Leader of the Council.