PEOPLE living in Oxfordshire could face a significant rise in council tax, as the county council is making plans to fill a £44 million funding shortfall.

Last month Oxfordshire County Council, which is run by a Lib-Dem, Green and Labour alliance, warned this winter will bring ‘major pressures’, particularly on social care.

The council said that all local authorities faced ‘significant increases in inflation’ that are driving up costs and price increases in energy, fuel and materials.

A total of £27 million of the expected shortfall relates to inflation, but the council is also estimating around £17 million of other pressures, including the growing costs of supporting children and young people, social care, care placements for both children and adults, and a shortage of social care workers.

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In its plans to cut costs, the council is proposing £35 million of savings, which will impact children’s services, adult social care and other services including a reduction in supplies in libraries, as well as a review of planned maintenance work of council buildings.

But despite the proposals, the authority will still need to fill a gap of £9 million.

The local government finance settlement, the annual determination of funding to local government, is expected late next month.

However, central government has not increased the funding for next year to match inflation, expecting local authorities to raise money through council tax instead.

Councillor Calum Miller, the council’s cabinet member for finance, told the Oxford Mail he couldn’t yet comment on a rise in council tax, but the autumn statement acknowledged that councils may need to raise council tax by up to 4.99 per cent, which would be an additional £82.42 per year.

He said: “We won’t know the full detail of the autumn statement until we get the local government settlement expected in December.

“But what we can see at this stage is that government has not increased funding for 2023/24 to match inflation but instead asked local authorities to raise money from residents through a further increase in council tax.

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“We will manage the council’s finances responsibly and we are planning ahead to meet current and future financial challenges. Our budget proposals for 2023/24 include £35 million of savings. This still leaves us with a £9m gap based on the need to plug the funding shortfall of £44m in total.

“None of these choices are easy. We have been listening to you about the big issues that matter most to you and your communities.”

The plans include £3.349m of savings affecting children’s services, as the council said it will review how it uses its budget for staffing, exploring measures including using staff with different skills to do tasks that ‘don’t require a qualified social worker.’

Cllr Miller said: “We need to make sure we use the right people for the right roles, and we are getting the best people to look after our children and young people in a time of challenges.”

A total of £17.498m of savings would affect adult social care, as the council said it is planning on ‘building further on successful work with the NHS and private and voluntary services’ and to ‘reduce the need for more formal care’.

A spokesperson for the council said: “It’s a better outcome for the council and the individual. It involves the council, the NHS and voluntary sector working in partnership around a person to deliver care to them in their own community. It has been in operation for some time now and has already proven successful.”

Libraries would also be impacted by the plans as savings will come from staffing vacancy management and the council will reduce branch network spending on furniture, newspapers and equipment, as well as looking to reduce spending on online and digital resources and ICT equipment.

Other savings concerning the libraries will come from a reduction in travel across branch network, an increased income from room hire and increased fees and charges, but the council is not planning closures or changes to hours.

Critics have been questioning the council’s priorities, as no current traffic projects were included in the cuts.

Councillor Liam Walker, a Conservative who represents Hanborough & Minster Lovell on the council, said: “The areas where they are proposing cuts are the most important services that the council offers – those should be the services that are not cut.

“I made quite clear that the council have their priorities completely wrong – they are blaming the government for not giving them enough money but they are deciding not to prioritise those areas.

“They are spending £500K on Broad Street, £100K in refurbishing LTNs and 3m on traffic filters among other things.

“I would review the traffic projects where millions of pounds could be saved and I welcome the news that they are thinking of reviewing property and building costs.”

A spokesperson for the council said: “If approved by the county council’s cabinet, traffic filters will be funded by the government’s Bus Service Improvement Plan and Growth Deal grants. These funds were awarded to the county council specifically to deliver better bus services and infrastructure in the area.”

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In addition to savings, the council is also planning investments to ‘meet financial pressures.’

Children services are proposed to see budget increases of £10.6m, including £615K in recruiting and retaining more social workers, while £15.275m would be invested in adult social care.

A spokesperson for the council said: “The council is proposing £10.6m of investments in children’s social care and £3.3m of savings.

“Similarly in adult social care there are £17m of savings but £15m of new investments but also £9.7m of money that was already agreed to go into the adult social care budget for next year when last year’s budget was set. There’s therefore more than £24m of investments overall.”

The council has launched a consultation on the proposals, which is running until December 19.

To take part, visit oxfordshire.gov.uk/budgetconsultation

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This story was written by Anna Colivicchi, she joined the team this year and covers health stories for the Oxfordshire papers. 

Get in touch with her by emailing: Anna.colivicchi@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @AnnaColivicchi