KCC budget approved: high risks and a narrow path

At a day-long meeting yesterday, the County Council passed the administration's budget for 2023-24. It was the fourth budget since I became Leader, and the most difficult for many years.

I have addressed the reasons for this before, and they underlay the joint letter that the Leader of Hampshire and I wrote to ministers in the autumn. The financial year just concluding (2022-23) is almost certain to be the first in 22 years in which the budget has been overspent; the full year effects of that, and the pressures that have caused it, carry over into 2023-24, for which our budget projects a £217 million (18.2%) rise in the cost of services. This far outstrips the increase in our resources, even after a much better than expected settlement for local government in the Autumn Statement.

The main reasons for this, in addition to surging general inflation (our budget last year was set two weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine) were cost pressures in adult social care, reflecting the crisis in the sector and the ever more complex needs of those in need of our services; rising numbers and costs in school transport, especially for SEND students; and the increasing costs of fostering and specialist placements in Children's Social Services.

The result is that we have both to increase council tax by the full referendum limit level of 5% and deliver some £55 million in savings and increases in income. The savings include difficult decisions in areas such as non-statutory social care services, community wardens and the cost of the Kent Travel Saver. Other measures are currently out to consultation, including our proposals for community services.

The council debate was long, wide-ranging, occasionally contentious and often thoughtful. At its conclusion, the administration's budget passed without amendment. I concluded by setting out the longer-term measures - sustainable budgets, work with the health service, making the most of the national devolution agenda -needed to secure the long-term future of the council and the services we provide. "So, we have a narrow path to tread. There are some very tough choices this year and some very big challenges for the years ahead."

You can find the KCC media release here.