Formal consultation is about to start on Cambridgeshire County Council’s proposals for its draft Business Plan and Budget for 2025-26.
The county council has today (Monday, 9 December), shared its proposals to continue delivering its vision of a creating a greener, fairer and more caring Cambridgeshire. Part of these proposals will identify the Council’s priorities for where to spend over £1billion to deliver services and support for people and communities across the county.
Priorities included with the draft Business Plan and Budget are:
- Investing £21 million into the county’s 4,500 miles of road network, footpaths, cycleways, and drainage systems in 2025-26, with a further £20 million being invested in 2026-27.
- Investing £20 million over the next 3 years to support providers of adult social care services to pay care workers the Real Living Wage, helping to recruit and retain people to deliver these essential services.
- Investing £6.8 million in low carbon heating for schools and council buildings and £8.7 million being invested to deliver enhanced and upgraded household waste recycling centres in Milton and March.
However, rising demand for the services we provide, along with the costs of those services also rising, continues to impact the county council’s available funding, just as is the case with many other local authorities. That means we also must continue to make difficult choices about where we spend and where we make savings.
This means we have a budget gap of £34.2 million in 2025-26 which needs to be closed.
As part of the report to be discussed by councillors, this includes a proposed council tax increase of 4.99% for 2025-26. This increase, if approved, would generate around £20 million in additional funding, not only helping the council to balance the books and set a legal budget, but more importantly, meaning we can commit to:
- continuing the record level of investment in the county’s highway and cycleway network that we started last year.
- ensuring that adult care services can continue to support and protect vulnerable adults by investing over £30 million to meet rising demand and costs and supporting the social care workforce.
- funding almost £0.8 Billion investment in capital expenditure to build vital schools, investing in care and community facilities, including libraries, and continue to deliver our ambitious net zero target.
- provide £2.5m to maintain holiday school vouchers for those most in need.
- sustaining home to school transport for children in education right across the county by a further £4.7 million in additional funding to help meet rising demands and costs.
- helping to provide extra capacity to support children and young people in care and children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
In our pre-budget engagement exercise, just over 50% of respondents supported an increase in Council Tax of up to 4.99% to help maintain or improve essential services.
In reports, published ahead of next week’s Strategy, Resources and Performance committee (Tuesday 17 December), councillors will consider:
- Progress to date and key investment areas for 2025/26 aligned to the council’s recently updated and approved Strategic Framework – setting out how the authority will deliver its vision of a creating greener, fairer and more caring Cambridgeshire through its seven ambitions and responding to the needs of residents gathered through its annual Quality of Life Survey.
- The proposed council tax increase of 4.99% and what this additional funding will mean in terms of helping to meet some of our increased costs, as well as additional investment in priority areas.
- The council’s long-term approach to changing the way it operates so that it can improve efficiency, value for money and productivity. This means getting the basics right and innovating the way services are delivered so the council can maximise the value of every pound it spends. This work includes saving £1.5m from rationalising office accommodation, and £0.5m from making greater use of technology.
During December we will be consulting with Town and Parish Councils, other Local and Public Authorities, business representatives, trade unions and residents upon the draft Business Plan and Budget.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Lucy Nethsingha said:
“I’m proud of the approach that the Joint Administration, supported by Council Officers, have taken to meeting the financial challenges that we are facing as a county, whilst investing in what matters most to our residents. We are making significant progress against our vision to deliver a greener, fairer and more caring Cambridgeshire.
“Next year’s budget is going to be challenging. This reflects the position faced by councils up and down the country, including the much-profiled pressures on key services such as special educational needs and disability services, and the cost of providing home to school transport.
“Although we do not receive the funding from Government to meet the needs of the growing population in Cambridgeshire, we are committed to ensuring the council delivers value for money in the services it provides.”
Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Elisa Meschini said:
“As a responsible and well-run council, we need to ensure that we are as efficient as possible. To reduce our own costs, the council is already taking a number of steps, including developing our own children’s residential homes and reviewing our long-term approach to waste disposal arrangements in the county. These will help us to deliver an improved quality of life for our residents.
“No one wants to put council tax up,” said Councillor Meschini “But we have had to consider some really tough choices, and we are pleased that over half of residents who responded to our engagement survey support this 4.99% increase.
“This will mean that we can continue with the significant levels of investment we have made in improving our highways, paying social care workers the Real Living Wage, maintaining our commitment to net zero.”
Leader of the Independent Group, Councillor Tom Sanderson said:
“These budget proposals underline our commitment to alleviating the impact of poverty across Cambridgeshire. The Cambridgeshire Poverty Commission, which we have helped establish, will be reporting back their independent findings early in the New Year. Recommendations from this work will help the County Council and our partners to strengthen what we do to help address some of the underlying causes of poverty.
“Through the Household Support Fund, we continue to offer direct support to those who are struggling, providing help for people to maximise their income as well as providing holiday food vouchers to the most vulnerable families.
“The investments we are making in our Libraries will mean they become more flexible and accessible spaces to deliver a wider range of council and partner services. This includes being the location for some of our Cambridgeshire Skills activity – delivering to over 5,500 learners over the last year from across 88 venues. We are particularly proud that this year we have gained Libraries of Sanctuary status for all we do to welcome asylum seekers and those seeking refuge in our county.”
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