Budgets are squeezed – but we’re looking to the future

I’ve made no secret of the ever-growing pressure on council budgets and it’s a message I’ve repeated time and again.

We’re in the process of examining replies to our ‘Money Matters’ consultation to determine our residents’ priorities for how we spend their council tax during the next financial year (2025/26).

Ever year the budget-setting process gets even tougher. We’ve already saved a massive £75 million for Buckinghamshire taxpayers through becoming a single unitary council but given the increased costs and demands on our services, we’ve had to find a further £41.3 million in savings this year alone. It means we’ve taken well in excess of £100 million out of our budgets in the first five years as a new council – a colossal amount of money.

We are not alone in the issues we face. Demand, particularly in four key statutory services, has significantly gone up in recent years, as have the costs of providing these services, namely; children and adults social care, home to school transport for vulnerable children and temporary accommodation for people and families threatened with becoming homeless.

It means that we are currently spending 71% of our budget on 4% of our population, as these are statutory services that we cannot shy away from, alongside, of course, the moral duty to help and support our residents who need it most. It leaves less than 30% for everything else – from collecting bins, to fixing roads, to clearing fly-tips and keeping our towns and villages safe and clean.

It's a really tough environment to be operating in. Councils need all the support we can get from central government and unfortunately, we found this somewhat lacking in the recent budget. The decision to put up National Insurance Contributions for employers is a real concern to us.

While our own NI contributions will be reimbursed, this is not the case for many of our providers and it’s likely their own increased costs will be passed onto us – so we still pay the price for this policy, when times are tough enough as is.

The decisions the new government takes will have a critical impact on our finances and our ability to provide good local services for our residents. I am particularly worried about suggestions that the government will redistribute our own Council Tax to other parts of the country. I will continue to lobby local MPs as well as Government Ministers on this issue.

I am aware the tone of this column is somewhat ‘doom and gloom’, and while it’s a challenging picture, I do want to reassure Bucks Herald readers that Buckinghamshire Council is a prudently run organisation and we are not in the dire straits that other councils find themselves in.

We are always looking to the future and in particular, to continue to invest in projects that will deliver real improvements for our residents. This can be seen in the significant regeneration works we’re starting in our major Town Centres, including creating a brand new ‘district’ in the heart of Aylesbury. When complete, the new ‘Pavilion Quarter’ will breathe new life into the town; it will be a new location for small businesses and a new community and cultural space.

Times are tough, there’s no denying it, but we continue to fight for the best possible deal for our residents and to drive forward a bright future for our county.