Wiltshire Council say finances are in good position

Last year, in anticipation of the various national financial challenges that are impacting local authorities up and down the country, Wiltshire Council set out its financial strategy for the three years, from 2023/24 to 2025/26.

The council claims this approach ensured it was well placed to meet those challenges head-on, with a balanced budget set across the next three years.

Through financial management and action the council says it can mitigate the impact of the inflationary pressures, Wiltshire Council is forecasting a modest underspend position of approximately £634k for the 2023/24 financial year.

The council has mapped out its budget for the next three years, which isn’t reliant on reserves to balance budgets.

For 2023/24, the general fund reserve level was £28m, and for 2024/25, this has increased to £34m, a level that covers the assessed financial risks the council faces (estimated at £33.9m for 2024/25).

This coming financial year, 2024/25, an additional £36m has been added to the council’s service budgets, with nearly £25m going on adult & children’s services.

Overall, the council’s proposed budget for 2024/25 stands at around £486m.

More than half of that is spent on adult and children’s social care services.

The recent Ofsted inspection into the council’s children’s services recognised the positive impact of the focus on prevention, with an overall Outstanding grading achieved.   

The most significant spending in 2024/25 will be:

Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council: “As a council our ethos is driven by prevention and early help, and favouring the long-term approach, not quick fixes. This is all underpinned by the strong foundation and clear direction our Business Plan provides. That approach is paying dividends, as demonstrated by our recent Outstanding Ofsted grade and consistently balanced budgets.

“Our prudent and preventative way of working doesn’t just ensure we simply maintain services; it means we can invest in our county and communities – from children’s and adult services through to highways and infrastructure.

“We are acutely aware there are still challenges to overcome and savings to be made. Like councils across the country, we receive limited government funding and are impacted by high inflation and energy prices. However, we never assume that central government will provide funding, or that grants will be maintained, so that means we haven’t been left with any unexpected issues or massive funding gaps unlike many other local authorities. However, we know things can quickly change and are always on alert, with our robust financial management putting us in good stead to mitigate such risks.

“Like households, we too are experiencing higher costs but we’re confident our budget proposals will allow us to continue to support residents as much as possible and provide the services they rely on. Proposals such as increasing council tax, although not easy decisions, are necessary in order for us to continue to tackle inflation and deliver quality services.

“This is a budget that supports residents, communities and businesses and I look forward to talking more about it over the coming weeks ahead of Full Council in February.”  

The budget proposals can be found at Document Budget Papers 2024-25 | Wiltshire Council.