Norfolk Putting People First Budget Consultation for 2014-17

Results updated 26 Feb 2014

Budget sees council tax frozen

Norfolk County Council has announced a net revenue budget of £308.397m for 2015/15 which sees a freeze in the proportion of Council Tax you pay to the County Council.  But we have still had to make

tough choices in the face of an unprecedented £189m gap for the next three years, as a result of further government cuts in our funding, coupled with rising costs and increasing demand for services.

Last autumn, thousands of residents had their say about how we should tackle the problem as part of our Putting People First consultation.  More than 4,400 respondents commented on the proposals nd 1,200 people attended more than 40 consultation events.

We have thought very carefully about who might be affected by our savings proposals to see how we can mitigate their impact and listened carefully to the concerns about some of the most significant proposals.

As a result of your feedback, more than £7.1m has been restored to County Council budgets. This includes:

• £3.1m restored to the

Children’s Services budget to support the improvements for safeguarding children

• An extra £1m for post-16 transport, so we can delay the changes and look at the implications in more detail

• Changing the proposed three year savings schedule for personal budgets so those affected can all have a face-to-

face assessment of their needs and be better supported through the proposed changes.

The County Council has also agreed to use some extra income (only lately announced), to give:

• £250,000 to establish an emergency Coastal Defence Fund

• £127,000 (a 20% increase) for the Carers Agency Partnership fund, to allow more carers to take a well-earned break

• £123,000 to reduce the impact of spending reductions in Trading Standards.

The County Council has also given a commitment to look again at the proposed savings from changes to personal budgets, to

see if the savings that need to be found can be reduced further.