Public consultation on Nottingham City Council’s budget for next year has been formally launched after councillors on the authority’s Executive Board met on 17 December to consider a range of initial proposals.
The consultation, which runs until 13 January, includes an online survey and a series of engagement events to provide local people, businesses and partner organisations the opportunity to give their feedback on the proposals.
Speaking at the Executive Board meeting, Council Leader, Councillor Neghat Khan, said: “This budget is about getting our house in order and moving the council to a financially sustainable position. We have been honest about the financial challenges we have faced, and we will continue to be open about what we will do and how we will do it.
“Our promise is to deliver a ‘one council’ approach by being more efficient in the way that we work, modernising outdated practices, and focussing on delivering good services and positive outcomes.
“Nottingham deserves a council that delivers good local services and sets an ambitious vision for a city where people want to live, work and study. In getting this budget right, we will focus on delivering just that.
“We must become a renewed council and get our house in order so we can refocus on delivering for local people, empowering our communities, tackling climate change, providing safe and affordable housing, enhancing education and skills and working with partners across our city to put Nottingham first. Our core mission as a council is to provide services for the people of Nottingham. The demand for vital services in Nottingham has never been greater. Increasing demand and shrinking budgets has left councils across the country facing huge financial pressures and Nottingham is no different.
“We think by allocating our resources more efficiently and with a renewed focus on delivering positive outcomes, we can meet the needs of local people more effectively and for better value to the taxpayer.”
The first engagement event is a public meeting at Nottingham’s Council House on Thursday 19 December from 5.30pm to 6.30pm, where councillors and senior managers will present an overview of the budget proposals and answer questions from the floor. No registration is required to attend this event, however spaces are restricted to 100. Doors open at 5pm and early arrival is advised to secure a seat.
The online survey along with details of the further engagement events taking place can be found here. Information is also available at local city libraries, including for hard copies of the budget survey form.
Further work is continuing to achieve a balanced budget for 2025/26 and robust Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP). This work, along with the Government’s provisional Local Government Finance Settlement due to be announced on 19 December will be reported to Executive Board in January. The final Budget and MTFP will go to the Executive Board in February for recommendation to the Full Council in early March.
A total of 21 proposals worth £24.191m over the period to 2028/29 have been put forward with £17.91m scheduled to be delivered in 2025/26.
The Council follows the Gunning Principles in the determination of what proposals require public consultation. The general rule arising from these legally backed principles is that proposals of significant service change including service outcomes require consultation whereas the implementation of normal management efficiencies are part of prevailing value for money requirements do not. As the £10.788m of cost cutting savings, as a whole, are designed to drive transformational change throughout the Council and lead to significant activity change, this would require consultation whilst the remaining £7.122m of specific service efficiency savings will be delivered as part of normal management practice.
Council wide saving and income proposals of £10.788 million for 2025/26 put forward for public consultation include:
- Effective management of vacant posts through an initiative to manage vacancies more prudently.
- Reduce costs and improve efficiency by streamlining layers of management and team sizes.
- Improve productivity and manage staffing budgets by reducing sickness rates and enhancing performance management.
- Introduce commercial expertise to reduce third-party spending and improve procurement processes
- Conduct a council-wide IT review to rationalise applications, systems, licenses, and subscriptions, ensuring business continuity and cost savings.
- Improving digital access through development of the website and digital forms, shifting demand to more efficient service delivery.
The £7.122 million of savings and income proposals that do not require consultation include:
Adult Social Care savings of £3.584 million including:
- Improving early intervention and prevention.
- Ensuring the services citizens have chosen are in line with their eligible needs.
- Reviewing provision of support hours to ensure needs are met appropriately and recommissioning care to the right contracted level.
- Reviewing social care transport including eligibility, how it is charged for and ways in which it is commissioned.
- Reviewing high-cost care packages to ensure best value outcomes for citizens.
- Realigning and reviewing grant income the Council receives for adult social care.
Children’s Integrated Services savings of £2 million
- Operating model redesign to optimise efficiencies
Other savings of £1.538 million including:
- Redesigning Sport and Leisure services to reduce the Council subsidy.
- Making the museums and galleries service financially sustainable by increasing revenue, reducing costs and establishing a charitable development trust and exhibitions company. The service will remain managed directly by the Council but the two new supporting bodies will be able to secure additional funding from other trusts, charitable foundations and Exhibitions Tax relief from HMRC that currently the Council as a local authority cannot directly claim.
- A revised events programme refocussed towards cost neutral or commercial events.
- Reducing the amount the Council subsidises the Theatre Royal Concert Hall through a ‘front of house’ restructure and the introduction of a new ticket insurance product for customers.
- Generating income through a new contract for bus shelters and advertising display units across the city.
- Repaying external market borrowing earlier than planned