Latest as Newcastle Council set out 2025-6 budget

Newcastle City Council today announced £21.3m of savings proposals to set a balanced budget while protecting frontline services.

Confronted with inflation, increasing demand for social services, and years of government funding cuts, the council faces challenging decisions to achieve financial stability for 2025-26.

Since 2010, the council has successfully saved £381 million and is projected to save an additional £62.8 million over the next three years: £21.3 million in the upcoming year, increasing to £23.5 million in 2026-27, and then £18 million in 2027-28.

The Cabinet will get together on Tuesday, December 10, to review the proposals and initiate a five-week consultation period, allowing the public and stakeholders to share their feedback.

What are the proposals?

• Raising council tax by 2.99%
• Applying 2% increase in the Government’s Adult Social Care Precept
• Reducing spend in Adult Social Care by approximately £8.3m through promoting independence and community resilience.
• Implementing a £3 flat rate for all types of paid for school meals saving £621,000, safeguarding the service for the future.
• Raise most fees and charges in line with inflation.
• Raise the garden waste collection charge by £2.

The authority proposes to save £21.3m by:

• Organisational efficiency and effectiveness £9.3m
• Promoting independence and community resilience £8.3m
• Generating additional income £3.7m
• Reducing services £0.1m

The council intends to allocate the entire £9.2 million generated from the council tax increase towards frontline services and to revamp its social care system, all while aiming to reduce the impact on service users.

It has proposed of £293 million for day-to-day services and plans to invest £153.4 million in capital projects, such as new housing, roads, and schools, which will support the economy and create job opportunities.

It is important to note that funds for capital projects cannot be legally used for operational services.

To streamline its operations, the council will eliminate 40 positions, primarily through the deletion of vacant roles and redeployment.

The council will collaborate closely with trade unions to prevent any mandatory redundancies.

What has the leader of the Council said?

Leader of Newcastle City Council, Cllr Karen Kilgour, said: “The council faces some big financial challenges after many years of Government underfunding.

“Providing social care to adults and caring for children with special educational needs is placing councils up and down the country under severe financial pressure.

“More and more councils have either gone bust or declared themselves in financial stress. Thankfully, Newcastle is not one of them because we’ve faced up to the difficult decisions in the past.

“The new Government has made a good start by announcing more investment in health, schools, social housing, social care, and children with special educational needs but the council still faces some stark choices. 

“I look forward to targeted multi-year funding settlements for local government in future, which should benefit councils like ours, however we still have significant savings to make next year.

“All of our proposals are designed to minimise the impact on our most vulnerable, but it won’t be easy.

By putting residents at the heart of everything we do and working with partners I am confident we will balance the budget and continue to provide the kind of good quality services the people of Newcastle deserve.

I would urge everyone to look at our savings proposals and take part in the consultation which runs until 15 January 2025.”

Take part in a consultation

There are various ways to take part in the consultation.

• From December 11 try the online budget simulator, which allows participants to set their own spending priorities for the council – go to: https://www.letstalkbudget.org.uk/ 
• Give your views on our proposed changes to our services and on the budget as a whole by:
• Completing a short form on our consultation webpage, Let’s Talk Newcastle Online: www.letstalknewcastle.co.uk/ 
• Emailing us at : letstalk@newcastle.gov.uk
• Writing to: FREEPOST Letstalk (this is the complete address)
• Anyone with questions about this, or needing information in a different format (such as large print), can contact us by email, post, or call: 0191 278 78 78.

The £381m saving the council has been forced to make since 2010 equates to a cut of £2,629 per household.

More can be found on the council’s website above.

Latest as Newcastle Council set out 2025-6 budget.