Leicestershire County Council says it faces 'toughest ever budget'

About 200 posts could go, but most will be from natural turnover, officials said

Leicestershire County Council says it is facing its "toughest ever budget", estimating an £85m shortfall by 2028.

The authority's newly-published four-year proposals said meeting inflation and new national living wage costs alone would cost an estimated £113m.

Council tax will increase by 5% next year as a result - the highest possible amount for county residents.

The authority is in the unusual position of having to use its reserves to plug the gap for its 2024-25 budget.

A report by the council said it would invest £127m more to meet growing demand in social care.

To illustrate this issue, it said the costs for keeping just 10 children with complex needs in care now reached £5m.

This has led to a major redesign of children's and adults' social care - such as creating more new placements locally, rolling out new technology and helping more people live independently to bring down future demand and costs.

Controls around recruitment, procurement and other spending have also been tightened, the authority said.

Officials said some £36m worth of savings in its general spending for the next four years had been identified, with a further £40m reduction of costs related to special educational needs and disabilities.

A 3% council tax increase for its core services is planned for next year, and expected to generate £11m for front-line services.

Shortfall to rise

A further £7m will be raised from a 2% increase in the adult social care precept.

This will equate to a £76 increase in bills for a band D property.

Despite this, the council said it expected to need to use £12m in reserves to balance the books.

This shortfall is predicted to rise to £33m in 2026, £60m in 2027 and £85m in 2028.

Closing the budget gap may lead to a reduction of about 200 posts in four years, but the council said staff turnover would mean the number of compulsory redundancies would be lower.

Other savings proposals like closing some recycling centres and dimming street lights have already been put forward.

The plans will be discussed by the council's cabinet on Tuesday, with a consultation running to 17 January, with final decisions made on 21 February.

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "We have made £512m of funding available to Leicestershire County Council in the last financial year, an increase of 9.7% in cash terms.

"We expect that councils will see, on average, an above inflation increase in their core spending power next year.

"We stand ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances or faces pressures it has not planned for."