Councils across the country face an unprecedented financial emergency. Year on year budget cuts paired with an increase in the demand for services has created a precarious situation. This means that the cost of delivering services is more than the money we have available.
According to the Local Government Finance Act 1992, we are legally required to balance our books each year. If we cannot do this, then this puts our services at risk and can force us to file for a Section 114 notice.
In North Somerset we face a £24m gap in our funding for the current year. We have been working hard to find savings and efficiencies to close this gap. However, we still have around over £8m to find before the end of financial year in March 2025.
Unfortunately, this is an ongoing situation. It will not be resolved by making enough savings to balance the books for the current year. As we enter into 2025/26, we will still be in a position where there is not enough funding from national government to meet service demand.
This situation means that our financial emergency will continue to grow. According to our current forecasts, we will need to make a total of £53m in savings over the next three years.
Because our budget has been reduced over a number of years, this means we have already exhausted options for savings and efficiencies.
This will have a significant impact on the valued services we provide and the residents who use them.
We are doing all that we can to make savings and avoid a Section 114 in North Somerset. But there is only so far we can go.
We are urging the central government to
With no change in how we’re funded or more control over how we raise and use funds, our financial pressures will continue to grow.
We have undertaken a number of measures to help us balance the budget for this financial year.