A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Share your views on council's latest annual budget

People living and working in Rutland are being asked to share their views on our latest annual budget.

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The exterior of Rutland County Council's offices in Oakham
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The exterior of Rutland County Council's offices in Oakham

The budget sets out what Rutland County Council Plans to spend and save over the next 12 months, as well as information about Council Tax and how the authority manages its finances.

The recent change in government has led to a major shift in how some councils will be funded in future. Through its new Local Government Finance Policy, national government has said it will prioritise funding for regions with high deprivation and scrapped a grant which previously gave Rutland County Council more than £1million a year towards the cost of running rural services. Together, these changes mean the authority has lost 14% of its grant funding with little warning – placing it under even greater financial pressure as it prepares to set its budget for the 2025/26 financial year.

“Setting the budget this year has been an enormous challenge. The Council has seen its costs rise by an additional £5.6m heading into 2025/26. This includes the sudden loss of government grant funding in December worth £1.5million. Despite this, we have balanced our books for the year without needing to draw upon reserve funds to pay for day-to-day services.

“The government continues to assume that Councils everywhere will raise Council Tax by the maximum allowed when it calculates how much money we’re able to spend on local services. These calculations are inherently unfair and don’t provide a level playing field. Government expects Rutland to raise the same amount of Council Tax per household, on average, as Richmond upon Thames and believe that deprivation levels are similar across the two areas. The big difference is that 55% of all homes in Rutland are properties in Council Tax bands A to C. Whereas the proportion of A to C banded homes in Richmond is less than 20%, meaning we need to charge more to generate the same level of funding.”

Councillor Andrew Johnson, Cabinet Member for Resources and Governance at Rutland County Council

Public consultation on the budget is now live and runs until Sunday 2 February. Further information, including details of how to take part in the consultation, can be found on our dedicated Annual Budget page.

Anyone without internet access can take part by calling: 01572 722 577.

The Council will also be holding two pop-up budget consultation events in Oakham and Uppingham Markets on the following dates:

  • Oakham Market, Wednesday 22 January from 8.00am to 2.00pm
  • Uppingham Market, Friday 31 January from 8.00am to 2.00pm

All the feedback received as part of this consultation will be reported back to Cabinet and Full Council at the end of February, helping councillors to debate and make a final decision.

Rutland County Council is to hold a separate public consultation around the provision of local library services in Ryhall. Details of when and how to take part will be confirmed shortly.

Annual budget - Link - Further details