2024/25 Budget savings proposals

Follow these links for details of the budget savings proposals. We have included a simple summary of the proposals which can be used alongside the more detailed documents. 

Appendix 1 - Proposals for Public Consultation

Simple summary of the proposals

Full Executive Board report

The table below displays the times and venues that we will be hosting engagement events. There will be a short presentation at each of these events, followed by a chance for you to ask any questions that you may have. These events give you an opportunity to learn more about the councils situation and the budget proposals.

Comments made at the engagement events will not be considered in our consultation analysis. We would like you to have your say using our online survey, which can be found by clicking the "take the survey" button at the bottom of this page.

If you would like to view the PowerPoint slides presented at the public engagement events you can download it using this link.

EIA's for all proposals can be found using the link below. 

VIEW EIA's

What is the council’s current budget situation?

The council needs to make savings to address a funding gap of £50 million in 2024/25 in order to meet the legal requirement all local authorities have to set a balanced budget for the each financial year.

Why are savings needed?

There is a currently a crisis in local government funding which having an impact on councils across the country.

Major pressures including the cost of increased demand for children’s and adults’ social care and rising homelessness presentations have led to a £23 million overspend for the council this year and the issuance of a Section 114 Report due to the authority not being able to deliver a balanced budget for 2023/24.

The council has been working hard to reduce this through enhanced spending controls but some of these underlying pressures will continue to affect the budget next year creating the projected £50m funding gap.

Where does the council’s main funding come from?

A significant proportion of the council’s funding comes from the Government in the form of grants including the Revenue Support Grant.

The level of Revenue Support Grant we receive annually from Government has reduced by £97 million compared with 2013/14.

Over the same period, Nottingham’s ‘Core Spending Power’, a measure used by Government which also includes other sources of income has reduced by 28.2% in real terms compared to 19.4% for all councils in England, according to SIGOMA, the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities.

What about Council Tax?

Another source of income is Council Tax. We are proposing to raise Council Tax by 4.99% as permitted under Government proposals – made up of 2.99% Council Tax and a further 2% precept specifically towards Adult Social Care costs. 

The increase would equate to between £ and £ more per week for the vast majority of city residents. 80% of Nottingham’s homes are in the two lowest Council Tax bands A and B  – almost twice the national average – which means we are able to raise less through increasing Council Tax than many other councils.

However, due to changes in the way the Government funds councils, a much higher proportion of our funding is now expected to come from Council Tax

How does the council propose to set a balanced budget in 2024/25?

To bridge the large budget gap faced, difficult decisions have to be considered in addition to a proposed increase in Council Tax of 4.99%.

A wide range of proposals have been put forward by officers to manage demand, increase charges, reduce costs, reduce services to a statutory minimum and in some cases cease services and funding altogether. They can be viewed in full in the appendices to the report to the Executive Board here but they include:

• Reviewing Library Service provision whilst maintaining a comprehensive and efficient service offer appropriate to the needs of our citizens. 
• Removing the council contribution towards Area Based Grants to the voluntary and charity sector and grants to arts organisations and cultural sector
• Reducing both the Community Protection and Resident Development services. The requirement to deliver duties relating to environmental enforcement and antisocial behaviour will be met.
• Reviewing the operation of community centres and seek to remove council subsidised grants
• Reducing public transport infrastructure to minimum statutory provision including the removal of funding to operate two bus-based park and ride sites, Victoria Bus Station and the real time passenger information system.
• Reducing all linkbus services to statutory minimum provision, remove Easylink and withdraw funding contribution to the Medilink service
• Re-structuring and reducing tiers and overall capacity in Adult Social Care Assessment function.
• Closure of Colwick Park Activity Centre
• Ending school uniform support for eligible families if the Household Support Fund grant does not continue

How can people have their say on the budget proposals?

A four-week public consultation on the budget proposals has been launched following a meeting of the council’s Executive Board meeting on 19 December. Add link

Paper copies are available at local Nottingham City libraries. To find your local branch click here: Find a Library | Nottingham City Libraries

If you need help with translation, or for any other queries please contact engage@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

A series of in-person and online consultation meetings will also take place throughout January where councillors and officers will discuss the proposals and answer questions. Details can be found on the Engage Nottingham Hub.

When will final decisions be made on the proposals?

Feedback from the consultation will be discussed by councillors at a meeting of the Executive Board on Tuesday 13th February and will help inform any decisions made. 

The Board will then agree a draft budget to go to Full Council on Monday 26th February for final approval. 

The following short video shows how you can translate the survey. Answers submitted in an alternative language to English will be translated our end using Google Translate.

We want our consultations to be as accessible as possible. If you require a survey in large text or brail, a sign language interpreter at one of our in-person engagement events, or anything else in order to participate in this consultation please let us know at engage@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

You can download the equality impact assessment for this consultation process using this link.

Hard copies of this survey are available at all of our libraries, just ask at the reception desk at your local library and one will be printed for you. You can find your nearest library using the link below

Find your nearest library

You can also download and print the survey yourself using this link.

Once complete, you can either drop the survey off at any of our library branches or post it to us. Our address is:

The REC Team
Loxley House
Nottingham City Council
Station Street
NG2 3NG