£49 Million Cut In Funding For Essex County Council

19 December 2014, 07:57 | Updated: 19 December 2014, 07:58

Essex County Council to receive £49m cut in government funding

Essex County Council is to lose £49 million in government funding next year to support its services.

Early assessments of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, which sets out how much money each local authority will receive from the government in 2015/2016, indicate the Council could be facing a cut of around 15 per cent on its funding from last year. 

Cllr John Spence, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: "We understand the government has to tackle the deficit but that does not detract from our responsibility both to balance the books and to provide the best possible service for the people of Essex."
"Every successive round of cuts makes the challenge harder. We have already secured so many efficiencies. We will continue to work creatively with our dedicated and innovative officers to find new solutions but make no mistake - it will be tough."
Leader of the Council, Cllr David Finch, said: "As a forward thinking authority we have worked hard over many years to have new and pioneering approaches in place to ensure we maintain a financially robust Council that builds a better Essex for everyone

"This is going to get tougher, but we are working closely with our partners across the county in order to deal with these funding reductions.

"With our communities also stepping up and working with us to help improve the areas they live in or supporting elderly and vulnerable neighbours we can achieve our ambitions for Essex. Resilient communities are always important but especially at a time when councils simply cannot afford to do everything they used to do."