£17million cuts 'unless money materialises'

PLYMOUTH City Council is to lobby ministers for more cash as it needs to allocate an additional £25.7 million into social care and support services for the city's most vulnerable residents.

- By ALISON STEPHENSON

PLYMOUTH City Council is to lobby ministers for more cash as it needs to allocate an additional £25.7 million into social care and support services for the city’s most vulnerable residents.

The council has to make £17 million of savings to balance its budget unless more funding comes forward.

Demand in social care, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and homelessness continue to grow. These services make up three quarters of the council's budget.

Despite the government issuing long awaited multi year financial settlements to local authorities for the forthcoming year rather than annual ones which had become the norm, meaning they can plan their finances better, the provisional amount has not provided enough to cover the pressures in Plymouth.

The government's measure of core spending power, which is the total funding available to local authorities for delivering core services, shows an increase for Plymouth of £15.9 million or 5% on 2025/26. This assumes that council tax will rise to the maximum level of 2.99%.

Cabinet member for finance Cllr Mark Lowry (Lab, Southway ) showed cabinet members the break down of where additional funds needed to be allocated at a meeting on Monday: children's social care and placements (£9.4 million); SEND home to school transport (£2 million); adult social care (£11.1 million); homelessness prevention (£623,000); short breaks (£1.2 million); and the Dedicated School Grant deficit funding (£1.6 million).