10 Jan 2025
Cost savings of £42m have been announced by Herts county council for the coming financial year – but no details of what services will be impacted have been revealed.
HCC’s draft budget for 2025/2026 has been met with condemnation by St Albans and Harpenden MPs for its lack of transparency.
In a statement released this week, the county says the budget has been set in an extremely challenging financial context.
HCC says it faces increasing demand for services, with costs likely to rise over the next 12 months if inflation continues its upward trend, coupled with the impact of the introduction of higher employer National Insurance contributions.
County Hall says it will continue to drive down their own internal costs with plans to deliver £42 million savings by the end of the 2025/26 financial year, which is on top of £46 million savings agreed last year, auspiciously to reduce the burden placed on taxpayers.
However, its draft budget involves using £3m from reserves and raising Council Tax by 4.99 per cent in April.
County council leader Richard Roberts said: “The current economic outlook for the country and changes recently made by the Government, means that our own costs will rise in 2025, but rather than rest on our laurels, we are working hard to bring these under control so that as little of these additional costs are passed onto you.
“Years of prudent financial planning have put us in a good position, but once again we are going to have to access our reserves and make significant savings to balance the budget.”
St Albans MP Daisy Cooper and her Harpenden neighbour Victoria Collins have accused HCC of pulling the wool over the public’s eyes, insisting the authority needs to come clean about the impact on public services from the proposed cuts.
Daisy said: “This is a shameless attempt by Hertfordshire Conservatives to bury £42 million of budget cuts in the next year in the weeds of a 387-page document. Whilst we all know that local councils are facing financial pressures, this approach is nothing short of pulling the wool over the public’s eye.
“As the only party that can take the county council out of Conservative hands, Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats will scrutinise these plans line by line and hold the Conservatives to account on their decisions.”
And Victoria added: “For years, Hertfordshire Conservatives have failed our children through their shocking SEND services, and left our roads to rot, leaving them to be ranked as some of the worst in the country for potholes.
“They need to come clean about what the £42 million of budget cuts in the next year means for our vital public services and our communities.”
HCC claims its highlights from the proposed 2025/26 budget include:
- Nearly half a billion pounds will be spent supporting 30,000 adults to live well for longer, including an additional £30 million investment to support those providing care, ensuring that caring staff receive a living wage and to offset the increased National Insurance costs. £26m of additional investment will be spent to ensure that the council can meet the expected increase in demand from those requiring care;
- Just over quarter of a billion pounds will be spent on children’s services, including £28m of additional investment to ensure the county council can continue to support Children Looked After and children with disabilities;
- A further £2.8m of funding on top of the previous £7m investment will be made towards HCC’s SEND improvement programme ‘Making SEND Everyone’s Business’.
£100m will be spent on highways maintenance works to keep Hertfordshire moving, an increase of £6m from the previous year; - Funding will be made available to improve flood protection and investigations;
- New Prevention and Health Inequalities Fund of £3.4m to support residents to stay healthy and well and address health inequalities in Hertfordshire over the next three years.
Creating a new Carers Hub to allow carers to access greater levels of support; - Further investment in a Domestic Abuse One Stop Shop to enhance support for people at medium and standard risk.
The county council is now seeking the views of residents on the proposed budget and are invited to share their feedback by completing its survey by Wednesday February 5 at: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/budgetsurvey
