Somerset Loses Control
As Somerset Council puts out a plan to survive it is clear it no controls its own destiny...
Somerset Confidential® special SC33
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Somerset Loses Control
It is a little like your football team fighting against relegation at the end of the season. They can win all of the games they have left, but even then may still be relegated as their survival depends on the results elsewhere.
That is the situation that Somerset Council is in today. On Friday it published the papers for the Council Executive on 15 January. Those papers contain details of a plan to survive. to cut costs in the short term, and cut services in the longer term.
But even if it does all of those things, the future of the council lies beyond Somerset’s borders. The ability of the council to carry is now in the hands of central government.
The ability of the council to carry on lies in the hands of central government
As we have been reporting for a couple of months, since declaring a “financial emergency” back in November, Somerset Council have been scrambling to save money.
The immediate crisis is that if they cannot report a balanced budget by February 2024, they will have to issue a s114 notice. That effectively means declaring bankruptcy.
Of course other councils have been in this situation already. What makes Somerset Council different is that it is just 9 months old. And one other thing….
Councils such as Birmingham which have filed a s114 notice already are looking to cut back on arts funding, youth services and children’s centres. But Somerset has already done that. All arts funding was cut as long ago as 2010. So the council will have to work harder to find things to cut.
Overview
Before we look at the detailed proposals, we should outline the overall position. This is pretty much final now. The proposals outlined below will now go to the Executive first and then to full council. Assuming they are passed (and some of the proposed cuts are bound to be controversial) then it will form the bedrock of proposals put to government.
The deficit the council is facing for 2024/25 is a calculation of the money it can expect to receive (from government, council tax and fees for its services) less the expenditure it will have to make to deliver the services it provides.
The council now say that this amounts to: £117.75m