Green light for £2.6bn spending on local services in 2023/24
Green light for £2.6bn spending on local services in 2023/24
Hampshire County Council will deliver £2.6bn of local services to Hampshire’s 1.4m residents in 2023/24, under budget plans approved on 23 February. Like many councils, each year it’s increasingly difficult to keep balancing the books, and for 2023/24, it has had to navigate cost-of-living pressures, inflation and workforce challenges which are pushing up costs, and growing demand for children’s and adults’ social care which far outweighs available Government funding.
Hampshire County Council is acutely aware of the very difficult decisions Hampshire residents currently face in their own household budgets to make ends meet. Reluctantly, to help deliver a balanced budget for 2023/24 which it must do by law, Hampshire County Council has had no other choice but to increase the council tax precept from April, by 4.99% – with 2% of this for adults’ social care, as determined by Government. This represents an annual charge of £1,460.25 for a Band D property – up £1.34 per week. Even after increasing council tax to generate £37m towards local service delivery, it’s still not enough to meet the budget gap and even after this increase there is still a gap of £50.8m which must be filled by reserves – funding set aside to buffer this and next year’s anticipated budget shortfalls.
The increase still means that Hampshire has one of the lowest council tax precepts of any county in England, but it knows that in future years the financial challenges will grow considerably. Hampshire County Council will be seeking residents’ views this summer on ways to help meet these pressures, before a decision on next steps, this autumn.
