Essex: Government Cuts Funding By £27m

19 December 2013, 00:00

The Government is cutting the amount of funding it gives to Essex County Council by £27 million from next April.

The Council says it is still "analysing the full impact" of the announcement, but says it believes it works out as a 7% cut in funding. 

Leader of Essex County Council, Cllr David Finch, said: "We are still fully analysing the facts and figures of this complex announcement but we are facing on-going and increasing cuts in our funding from government. 

"We have already started to take action to address this situation through our continuing ambitious redesign of the way we provide our services to the people of Essex. This is all being carried out against a backdrop of needing to make at least £235m savings to balance our books. 

"The stark reality is that if we want better schools, more investment in our roads and the provision of better care for our older people and vulnerable people, we need to find different ways of doing things and look at if we can find more money to make up the overall shortfall. Achieving this massive task will mean having to make tough and often unpopular decisions. 

"Excluding schools, Council Tax makes up over half of our net budget. For the past three years we have been able to freeze the burden we place on our hard working families but we will need to look closely if this is sustainable. We will be outlining our budget proposals to Cabinet next month."