Warwickshire faces five years of council tax rises

Warwickshire county councillors have been advised to raise council tax by 5% every year until the end of the decade to cover the increasing costs of public services.

The county council has set out plans to save almost £80m between next year and 2030 to balance its books.

Cuts to services including family centres, street lighting, and highway maintenance have been suggested.

Others services, such as home-to-school transport for children with special educational needs and diabilities (SEND), could be redesigned to save money.

The savings options have been presented in a budget report, which will be discussed by the leadership of the Conservative-controlled authority next week.

Local authorities are legally required to set balanced budgets, in Warwickshire the funding available to the county council would not cover its costs over the next five years.

In the next financial year alone, there is a gap of £41m between spending to be financed and the resources available.

The high cost and demand pressures of social care, home-to-school transport and SEND were particularly areas of financial concern, the council said.

It said home-to-school transport and social care amounted to 71% of its net budget.

The council said unless there was more funding from central government “this will result in increasingly difficult decisions each year being needed to balance the budget”.

The budget report said the council was not at risk of filing a section 114 notice, meaning it had effectively gone bankrupt.

But it said this position was dependent on funding announcements by the government next year and the future of SEND services.

The budget report recommended increasing council tax in Warwickshire by the maximum of 5% in 2025-26 and every year after that up to 2030.

“Without the additional council tax income material levels of additional budget reductions would need to be approved,” the report said.

The Labour government has confirmed the maximum rise available to councils with social care responsibilities next year will be 5%.

Warwickshire County Council said “taking the maximum 4.99% in 2025-26 and each year thereafter will provide sufficient resource” to “best handle financial uncertainties”.

The council tax rises for years beyond 2025-26 would be assumptions built into financial forecasts.

The council recommended savings of £22m in the 2025-26 financial year, rising to almost £80m by 2030.

The budget report said the service cuts proposed added up to about 6% of the total savings options on the table.

The cuts suggested included:

• A repurposing of children and families centres
• Lowering the cost of street lighting through investment in more efficient dimming technology
• Reducing the number of times grass verges are mowed on highways
• Withdrawing funding from some public health services, such as support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault
• Reviewing Sunday opening hours at libraries

There are also options for service redesign, including plans to save about £2m on home-to-school transport for children with SEND, by doing “things more cost-effectively”.

The council’s Conservative leadership will decide what savings to make in the coming months before councillors vote on the budget in February.

This will be the last budget before county council elections next May.