Oxfordshire County Council proposes measures to reduce 11.2m budget gap

The council said that budgets in both adults and children's social care would increase with investments

A council has proposed new measures to reduce its £11.2m funding gap.

Oxfordshire County Council has put forward a series of proposals to save more than £9.8m as it continues the process of setting its 2024/25 budget.

Some financial pressures have eased after more council tax was collected than expected, a spokesman said.

Councillor Dan Levy said that even with the proposed measures, the council remained "£900,000 short of what we need for a balanced budget".

The draft budget was first proposed in November when the gap between the money the council had and the money it needed was £9.1m.

But in December, the gap grew to £11.2m following central government's annual allocation of funds to all councils in England for the next financial year.

The council has now come up with measures to close the majority of the gap.

The biggest is a one-off saving is of £3.4m, which is a result of more being collected in council tax than originally estimated.

It would also save £1.5m from "measures to manage the size and shape of the organisation".

"Plans are still at an early stage, but may include measures such as restructuring some services, freezing vacancies, and recruiting internally rather than externally," a council spokesperson said.

'Extremely challenging'

Another £1.1m comes after a review of potential savings in children services, such as reducing the reliance on agency staff and focusing on keeping families together.

The council said that budgets for both adult and children's social care would increase in 2024, with investments outweighing savings.

The remaining shortfall needs to be closed by the time the council sets its budget later in February.

Mr Levy, who is cabinet member for finance, said the council "has been in a more resilient position than many other authorities", but its overall position was "extremely challenging".

"Even now we remain £900,000 short of what we need for a balanced budget," he said.

The authority's overall projected budget for 2024/25 is more than £614m.

No final decision on council tax or any element of the budget will be taken until 20 February, when all 63 county councillors meet at the annual budget setting meeting.

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