Devon County Council to increase council tax to limit

The council's approved budget plans were presented to full council on Thursday

Devon County Council will increase council tax by the maximum amount of 4.99% from April this year.

It means the yearly council tax bill for an average Band D property will rise by £77.67 to £1,634.13.

Recent analysis shows nearly all local authorities are expected to hike council tax by 4.99% annually over the next five years.

The council's approved budget plans were presented to full council on Thursday to be ratified.

Alternative funding

The money will mostly go towards spending increases of 18.4% and 8.8% on children's and adult services respectively, while corporate services will get a 6.5% increase, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Elsewhere, public health, communities and prosperity gets 5.4% extra, and climate change, environment and transport will be given 3.5% more cash.

However, the council tax rise and central funding from government is not enough for it to set a balanced budget without making savings elsewhere.

As a result, savings, alternative funding and additional income of £47.5m have been identified in the 177-page budget book, including £26.4m of savings in adult social care.

SEND overspend

Meanwhile, the council's services for disabled children is over budget by £127m and the latest budget means the debt will rise by a further £26m next year.

Councillors said the local authority risked becoming insolvent without further government support.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there is appropriate education for all children in their local area, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

"We are putting significant investment into the high needs budget, increasing funding by more than 50% compared with 2019 - to over £10 billion by 2023-24."

It comes after parents recently accused the council of "relentless institutional failings" of children with special educational needs and disabilities.

They staged a protest in Exeter against what they say is poor provision by Devon County Council in supporting children with additional needs.

Analysis by Ewan Murrie, political reporter for BBC South West

The budget sees Devon continue to spend millions more than it can afford on education for children with disabilities.

Usually this would lead to a council declaring itself bankrupt, since they are legally obliged to balance their books yearly.

But ministers have allowed Devon - and some other county councils - to effectively have giant overdrafts for SEND spending until 2026.

The problem for Devon is that the cumulative deficit keeps ballooning every year, to the point that it's now in excess of the council's reserves.

Devon County Council is opening up more special school places to help curb its reliance on costly private providers, which is driving much of the overspend.

Meanwhile talks are continuing with the Government on a possible bailout - though nobody in County Hall is holding their breath that one is forthcoming immediately.