The Council’s budget for 2020/21 will be set on 26 February and will include investment plans, council tax and the revenue budget.

There is an estimated funding gap for next year of around £20m. In October 2019, council officers produced proposals for savings options to help bridge this gap.

The largest element determining the size of the Council’s budget gap is the government grant and this was announced on February 6th. This in turn will inform the decisions Members need to take on selecting savings options.

However, we still expect to be spending c£2.5bn on services in our local communities over the next 5 years.

The Council approved its five year Business Plan in May 2019 and sets out how we will deliver transformation and savings while achieving the best possible outcomes for our communities. The Business Plan will be updated in May this year and contains a range of innovative ideas and projects that will help us transform and modernise our services through our Council of the Future programme.

In January the Housing budget  and council house rents was approved along with the Housing Investment programme.

We spent £340m delivering services in our communities in 2019/20. Find out where we spent the money and our main areas of service delivery.