Council to protect frontline services and increase funding in budget proposal

Adult care services and children’s services will receive £47m more funding as part of Suffolk County Council’s £685m budget proposals, published today.
Published: 22 Dec 2022

Adult care services and children’s services will receive £47m more funding as part of Suffolk County Council’s £685m budget proposals, published today.

Despite an incredibly challenging economic climate, the council has been able to produce a balanced budget. This will protect the services that people rely on the most and continue to care for the most vulnerable, which accounts for 75% of the whole budget.

Adult care services will have £34m more in their budget, and children’s services will have a further £13m. This will help with the extra expense needed to meet the huge increase in demands for services, as well as higher costs due to inflation.

The budget-setting has been achieved with input from the council’s partners, officers, departments and notably, Suffolk residents. Over 2,600 local people contributed to an online survey and focus groups, asking where they would spend more money, spend less money, and their views on Council Tax.

The top service areas where people wanted to spend more, were social care services for adults and children.

Adult and children’s care were at the heart of our budget setting last year, and are again this year. This is exactly what people told us in our public survey too, so we are all in agreement about investing more in these areas, and it meets one of our four ambitions for Suffolk - to look after people’s health and wellbeing.
This year, it’s a case of being prudent across all areas of the organisation. Even though we have created £15.5m of savings, our frontline services are protected and receiving more funding.
Alongside an increase in our funding from Government, and a history of excellent financial management at the council, I’m proud that we’ve been able to navigate our way through the extremely turbulent, economic waters caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and Vladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine. We will be able to ensure that the services which mean the most to people, are still provided.
Headshot of Councillor Richard Rout
Councillor Richard Rout, Suffolk County Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Environment

Some of the service areas where people also said they wanted to see more money spent, will receive additional funding:

  • £700,000 for SEND services to support new recruitment, which is on top of the £1.1m invested this year
  • £500,000 for Highways: to use environmentally friendly weed treatments, and stop using glyphosate which can damage wildlife
  • £110,000 for tree management: to support the ‘right tree right place’ policy, having an appropriate inspection regime and supporting the resulting tree management requirements.
  • £45,000 for Citizens Advice: to support work during cost of living challenges

A budget gap for next year - the difference between what money is available and what needs to be spent - had already been identified, resulting in savings of £15.5m for next year.

Under the proposals, the council’s budget would increase by 9.6% (from £625.3m to £685.3). Additional funds would come from a total 3.99% increase in Council Tax, and an increase in funds from the Government for adult and children’s social care.

Regarding Council Tax, the proposed 3.99% increase would be made up of a 1.99% increase in general Council Tax and a 2.00% increase dedicated to funding adult care.

This means costs for a household would look like:

  • Band B property: £22.32 per week (85 pence per week increase from 2022-23)
    (Band B properties are the most common in Suffolk)
  • Band D property: £28.70 per week (£1.10 pence per week increase from 2022-23)
I’m grateful to all those who completed our survey and could understand the difficult position that the council is in, with more demands on our services than ever before, and increasing costs due to inflation.
Our survey results tell me that people appreciate the need to increase Council Tax – 49% of people supported an increase, compared with 32% who didn’t.
We want to strike the fairest balance possible. We have produced a budget proposal which means we don’t have to take as much Council Tax from people, as Government allows us to. This means a Band B property, the most common in Suffolk, will see an increase of 85p per week.
Just like at the council, I understand that every penny counts in homes around the county.
Headshot of Councillor Richard Rout
Councillor Richard Rout, Suffolk County Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Environment

The proposed budget will be discussed at the council’s Scrutiny meeting on 10 January 2023, then presented at the Cabinet meeting on 24 January, with the final budget debated and voted on at Full Council on 9 February.

The Scrutiny meeting will be available to stream on Suffolk County Council’s YouTube channel, and public questions can be submitted in advance, details available at www.suffolk.gov.uk

Read papers for the SCC Scrutiny meeting on 10 January 2023 here.