No drastic cuts or redundancies planned to balance books, says Nottinghamshire Council leader

The Conservative-led council needs to find at least £24 million in the 2023-24 financial year, with inflationary pressures fuelled by the ongoing energy crisis are being blamed for the gap.

Councils across Nottinghamshire and the rest of the country are expected to find out their financial settlements from the Government next week.

This will let them know how much grant support they will receive for the coming financial year and give certainty over their council tax plans.

Last month, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed authorities will be able to increase council tax bills by 4.99 per cent, including 2 per cent for adult social care and 2.99 per cent for general services like education and transport.

If the authority opted to take the full amount, it would equate to an £82.20 increase on the council’s portion of the bill in households classed as ‘band D’.

It comes after councillors agreed to give themselves a 4 per cent increase in their allowance less than a month ago, increasing their standard annual allowance by £617.22, to £15,894.98.

Coun Bradley, also Mansfield MP, has said there will not be “significant” cuts, or “massive” job losses next year and the authority is confident it can “balance the books”.

He said: “We haven’t finalised budgets yet and are waiting for the settlement, but we’re not looking at significant service reductions or massive redundancies.

“Councils are affected the same as households with energy bills and increasing costs and it’s a significant challenge, but I’m optimistic that, although there will be some difficult elements, we are in a relatively stable position.”

However, councils were dealt a blow earlier this week when the long-awaited Fair Funding Review was delayed yet again by the Government.

The review, promised since 2016, would set out a new funding formula for councils and offer longer-term budget flexibilities.

But it has been repeatedly delayed and now will not be carried out until the next term of Parliament.

Coun David Martin, a member of the Independent Alliance opposition group at County Hall, said the delay was a “devastating blow”.

He said: “This represents yet another broken promise to local Government by the Conservatives.”