Budget 2025/26 - consultation

Overview

Welcome to our budget consultation. Your responses will help us set the budget for the next financial year. 

It’s no secret that council budgets have faced significant pressures over several years.  

Between 2010 and 2020, councils are estimated to have lost 40 per cent of core government funding on average, at a time when demand for services has risen, particularly in children’s services and adult social care. 

This comes at a time when the cost of delivering those services has gone up, with increased prices for energy, materials and staff. As prices rose by close to 10% in recent years, increases to council tax have been limited to 4.99% without a referendum. This meant there was already a gap between our income and costs. 

Thankfully inflation has now fallen, but those price rises – and the funding gap – remain embedded in our costs. The grants we received from government were also based on the assumption that we would have increased council tax by the maximum allowed without a referendum. If we hadn’t increased it by this amount, the funding gap would have been greater. 

While the reorganisation of local government presents opportunities, it also brought several challenges, and we received no extra funding for the additional costs associated with bringing four councils into one. It has also meant we have had to invest – in things like ICT - to bring savings in the future. This is why we asked the government for Exceptional Financial Support (EFS), to support us through these first few years whilst we invest in our services. Without this EFS support there may have had to be cuts in services. 

The new Government, which was formed following the General Election in July, has also stressed that national budgets will remain tight. We await further news on the central government funding for local authorities.

This all comes at a time when the need for council services is expected to continue to increase, especially in adult social care and caring for vulnerable children. We don’t have time on our side either; we cannot wait for future government announcements . And we have tough choices to make. 

This is why we are seizing the opportunity that local government reorganisation does give us as we develop a modern organisation and culture that is more effective and efficient. We’re doing this by delivering on our service Transformation Plan, which in turn ensures we deliver the 2023-2027 Council Plan, which was developed with the help from our residents and businesses. Central to this plan is improving the health and wellbeing for residents.

This is a long-term project which will transform council services in Cumberland – putting the needs of our residents at the heart of all our decisions. We have tough decisions to make, but we also have a plan to get us to a more sustainable financial position which delivers for our residents. And that plan is starting to bear fruit. 
 
Cllr Mark Fryer, Leader of the Council

Cllr Barbara Cannon, Executive member with responsibility for Financial Planning and Assets. 

Why your views matter

Your responses will help us to set our budget for the next financial year. 

 As we set our budget for the next financial year, and think about future years, we want to hear your views on our priorities, transformation plans and approach to our finances.

For those of you online, we also have a simulator where you can look to prioritise our services and the spending on them. More details can be found at consult.cumberland.gov.uk

This consultation runs between 9 December 2024 and 6 January 2025.