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Council responds to Chancellor's Autumn Budget

Our Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources, Councillor Andrew Johnson, has given a response to yesterday's Autumn Budget announcement.

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A photo of Deputy Leader Cllr Andrew Johnson
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A photo of Deputy Leader Cllr Andrew Johnson

Our Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources, Councillor Andrew Johnson, has given this response to yesterday's Autumn Budget announcement.

"Like many households around the UK, we’ve been waiting to see what’s in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. Things like changes to National Insurance contributions for businesses will increase pressure on councils whose budgets are already severely stretched. However, it’s the government’s wider plans for investing in the public sector that are most critical. We need the government to prioritise support for vulnerable people in its future spending plans.

"The Chancellor spoke about more funding for local government in the form of grants, but we’ll need to see the details behind these plans to fully understand their impact. We also need serious long-term reform to the way that social care and SEND services are funded at a national level. The additional funding for SEND (£1bn) is a 6% increase at a time when demand for these services is rising at more than 20%.  

"Long-term financial settlements for councils are crucial for sustainable financial planning, rather than short single-year settlements, so it’s encouraging to hear the Chancellor speak about this in her statement. This approach would allow councils to make longer term spending plans, rather than limiting us to annual cycles because we don’t know how much money we’ll have in another 12 months’ time.

"What is clear from the autumn statement is that, to achieve a 3.2% real terms increase in funding, the government still expects councils to continue increasing Council Tax by the maximum currently allowed (5%), to be able provide essential services for all residents and support the most vulnerable.

"The next important announcement for councils will be the provisional local government settlement for 2025/26, which we expect in December. This will give us more detail on how the new government plans to fund councils over the next year, as we prepare our annual budgets. For Rutland, the key area of pressure remains the overall cost of providing care for a growing number of people who need it, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

"The financial picture remains perilous for many councils. Our next quarterly budget report is due at Cabinet in November and will give an indication of how we’re progressing with our plans for spending and saving money. We’re doing all we can to make savings by changing, rather than cutting, local services. However, this is getting harder, not easier."

Cllr Andrew Johnson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources

The agenda and reports for Rutland County Council's next Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 12 November will be published on our Meetings page.