Savings of £13.4m will have to be made by Plymouth City Council this year as it faces serious cost pressures for social care services. The council’s cabinet has approved a draft budget for 2025/26 that the council said protects “hundreds” of council services despite its financial challenges.
The council said it faces immense pressures particularly in providing care for the elderly, supporting vulnerable adults and children, temporarily housing homeless families and delivering school transport for vulnerable children. These services account for around three quarters of the council’s total revenue spend.
A report to the cabinet said the draft budget allocated growth in areas protecting most vulnerable. It also allocates additional money to support key services that residents say should be priorities, including adequate funding to repair potholes and cutting grass.
But the budget assumes £13.4m savings will be achieved. The council said that about half of these are “management actions”, such as not filling vacant jobs and the release of budgets that had not been fully spent.
The council said its ongoing work to reduce cost pressures in social care services and balance the books has been helped by the latest Government’s funding settlement. This included a £6.5m new recovery grant, a new £1.4m children’s social care prevention grant and a £5.2m increase in social care grant.
The report said the draft budget built on the recently agreed medium term financial strategy that guides work to stabilise the council’s finances in the face of serious escalating cost and demand pressures, while also enabling it to remain ambitious in delivering its vision and objectives for the city.
The report also detailed a £395.8m five-year capital programme funded through grants, borrowing, contributions from developers and sales of assets. A report to the council’s audit and governance committee in December said that in late 2023, £243.9m of the capital funding, that’s 61%, was funded through borrowing, costing the council £4.1m a year to service.
The new capital programme allocates £65.9m for schemes to deliver a net zero in Plymouth, £47.7m to deliver a “sustainable city centre and waterfront”, £40.7m for the Derriford/northern corridor, £30m for housing and £97m for the economy.
Council leader Tudor Evans said: “Once again, it has been very difficult journey to get us from the position we faced a few months ago when we were facing a significant gap in the resources we needed to enable us to continue delivering more than 300 council services, to one where we can recommend a balanced budget for next year that will enable us to continue delivering the priorities for Plymouth.
“The Government’s settlement was more positive than we have been used to in recent years and we are pleased it has committed to supporting local authorities in addressing the systemic issues in social care that have been taking councils close to the brink.
“We know there are no instant solutions though and we will need to continue to work hard to manage the rising costs and demand in children’s social care placements, homelessness, SEND (special educational needs and disability) provision and home to school transport. We also need to expect the financial climate we operate in to continue to be tough.
“Despite this, we are confident that through our medium-term financial strategy and our ongoing work to manage costs and demand, we can continue to protect key services and deliver the priorities that make our city a better place to live.”
The draft budget is due to be considered by scrutiny later this month and a final budget is set to be agreed by the full council on February 24.
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