Shropshire Council expected to announce plans to save £50m from budget

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Shropshire Council is expected to make an announcement on its plans to close a budget gap today after warning it faced "very difficult decisions".

The authority is looking to make savings of more than £50m, in addition to increasing council tax by 4.99%.

The council said it faced "unprecedented financial pressure" due to demand for its services including social care and housing.

It comes amid an increase in costs and a decrease in government funding.

More than 1,000 responses were collected in response to its budget proposals during a six-week budget consultation.

Adults' and children's social care accounted for almost 80% of its budget, it said, and the number of children in its care had doubled since 2018.

High rates of inflation over a long period had made services more expensive than ever to run, the authority had added, especially in such a "large, rural and sparsely populated area" like Shropshire.

Feedback from the council's six-week budget consultation is set to go before the authority's cabinet on 21 February.