Rutland County Council leader Gale Waller writes about the government’s latest budget announcements

Much has been said about the government’s budget; the first ever by a female chancellor, writes the leader of Rutland County Council Gale Waller (Lib Dem).

From my perspective, the most important part is what it will do to Rutland County Council’s (RCC) finances and how we provide services going forward. I have written before that RCC is spending beyond its means i.e. our annual income is less than our annual expenditure.

We are living on reserves but this cannot go on forever and so we have in place a robust transformation programme designed to deliver services differently at reduced cost, thus balancing our budget over the medium term.

The government’s announcement that they will be looking to have longer term, rather than annual, settlements for local government will help us plan but nevertheless there will be changes ahead we cannot predict. The rise in employers’ national insurance contributions will adversely impact on all local councils, including Rutland, (estimated at £408k in our case) and whilst the government did indicate there would be more grants for local government we do not yet know the level nor the purpose of these.

We anticipate that some grant will be to offset the national insurance increase, though it is unlikely to meet the full cost. We also expect some will be for adult social care, but again not the full cost.

We welcome the additional money grants provide but they are ‘one off’ funding, so do not help us with long term planning and budget management. We also have to recognise that when the government announces “real terms increases in local government spending” they are including in that what they expect us to increase council tax by.

I would like to see the reform of both council tax and business rates. Currently Rutland residents pay some of the highest council taxes in the country, despite having some of the lowest cost services.

The government has also announced 6% additional funding for the assessment and provision of services for children with special educational needs and disability (SEND) but that is in the context of a 20% increase in demand. For Rutland the 6% is an increase of £352k but this will not cover our SEND overspend which is currently £2.3m. The SEND process needs reform.

In addition to budget pressures related to SEND, we also have pressures on children’s and adults’ services more widely. Nevertheless, we strive to balance our budget in the medium term because if we don’t, we will have to cut services. I have mentioned our transformation programme. Part of this is to review public and scholar transport as the subsidies we currently provide to bus operators are unsustainable. We have to focus first on statutory services.

The council has just published its latest quarterly financial report as part of the papers for cabinet on Tuesday, November12. This provides a good insight into the financial pressures RCC is facing, as well as explaining what we are doing to manage our budget in-year. Further details on the new government’s plans for funding all councils should be released in December which will enable us to finalise our plans in order to set our budget for 2025/26.