Durham County Council has launched a consultation to raise awareness of the financial pressures it is facing and to give people an opportunity to shape how it transforms and delivers services over the next four years.
The council is asking residents, businesses, partners and community organisations for their views on its proposed budget for 2027/28, along with its Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for the period up to 2030/31.
Like many local authorities across the country, the council is facing significant financial pressures, with central Government funding expected to fall short of the unavoidable spending increases the local authority has to factor in. The result is a forecasted budget deficit of £83.662 million over the next four years including £23.278 million in 2027/28 alone – a deficit that needs to be addressed locally.
Rising demand and costs for essential, statutory services such as children’s and adult’s social care and home-to-school transport, along with increased energy and waste management costs, are the key contributors to the deficit.
To balance its budget, the council needs to consider a mixture of further savings and efficiency improvements through its new transformation programme, Changing Together, as well as council tax increases.
Since 2010, the council has had to deliver more than £300 million of savings to balance its books.
New savings proposals, totalling £21.5 million, have already been developed, but even if these are all delivered, a significant budget deficit of £62.143 million will remain across the four-year MTFP period.
A consultation has therefore been launched to gather feedback on:
- A range of new saving proposals across back-office functions and frontline services, as well as options for increased income generation for services the council provides to customers directly on request.
- Improvements to how the council operates, uses technology and serves its communities over the longer-term, developed as part of the Changing Together transformation programme.
- Options for council tax increases over the next four years, ranging from no annual increase at all to annual increases of up to 4.99 per cent. The latter is the maximum annual increase allowed and the percentage rise the Government assumes councils will implement each year when it allocates local authority funding.
Cllr Darren Grimes, Deputy Leader of Durham County Council and Cabinet member for finance, said: “We’re committed to delivering high-quality services as efficiently as we can to ensure we get the best possible value for money for County Durham residents.
“Balancing our budget will be challenging once again this year. The funding settlement we’ve been allocated by Government fails to recognise the scale of the demand and rising costs we’re facing from services we’re legally bound to deliver. These are services on which some of our most vulnerable residents rely and the Government is not doing enough to support local councils. Instead, it is leaving the problem firmly at our door and the doors of local council tax payers.
“We’ve already identified more than £21 million in new savings across the council, but these alone are not nearly enough to meet the budget shortfalls we are facing. Council tax increases are something we would always try to avoid, but in these circumstances, they have to be considered and are effectively unavoidable as things stand.
“Our communities are the driving force behind everything we do, which is why we really want their input into how we address the budget gap we are facing because of national decisions, national economic policy and national funding shortfalls. I would encourage everyone in our council area to take part in the consultation.”
The consultation runs until Sunday 15 November. To take part visit, the council’s online engagement platform, Let’s Talk County Durham, at www.letstalkcountydurham.co.uk. Paper copies of the survey can be requested at any Durham County Council library or by emailing .
A series of online events will also be held for people to hear more about the budget consultation, share their views and ask questions. Sessions will take place at:
- 2pm on Tuesday 6 October
- 6pm on Wednesday 21 October
- 11am on Thursday 5 November
- 6pm on Thursday 12 November
People can register to attend at www.letstalkcountydurham.co.uk and will receive a link to join the event.
