Hampshire County Council Budget Consultation 2023
Posted on Thursday July 20 2023 by Glenn Peacey
Local authorities are required by law to deliver a balanced budget – which means they cannot spend more than is available.
Since 2008, the County Council has delivered annual financial savings totalling £640 million.
However, growing demand for local services, particularly social care for vulnerable children and adults, rising costs and continued underfunding from the Government means that Hampshire County Council continues to face a total budget shortfall over the next two years that is forecast to reach £132m by April 2025.
This means that, by 2025/26, to deliver a balanced budget, it is anticipated that the Authority will need to save an extra £132 million from its budget each year.
We would like to hear your views on several proposed high-level options that could contribute towards balancing the County Council’s revenue budget. This might involve:
- increasing Council Tax
- making reductions and changes to services
- finding ways to generate additional income, and
- increasing or introducing charges where this is possible.
The Council is also lobbying the Government for a more sustainable, longer-term funding solution, and to ask for the law to be changed to allow new ways to deliver services and raise money, and this consultation asks for your views on some of the changes to the law that we have proposed.
Everyone in Hampshire uses council services and everyone in Hampshire has a right to have their say on how those services are funded and delivered. You may be affected by what we are proposing. Please help us to understand what these options might mean for you so that we can take residents’ needs into account when considering the way forward.
Consultation period: from 12 June to 11:59pm on 23 July 2023.
Please note that responses received after this time will not be included in the findings report.
The findings of the consultation will be published and presented to the County Council in November 2023. Feedback will help to inform any decision by the County Council on how to deliver a balanced budget.
How to have your say
Before giving your views, we ask you to read the consultation Information Pack
Please give your views on the ways that we could balance the budget.
You can do this by using the online Response Form.
Complete the Response Form to give us your views
We have also provided information in Easy Read Format.
If you prefer to complete the Response Form offline, a printable version is available.
You can also email your response directly to Hampshire County Council using the email address insight@hants.gov.uk, or by writing to Freepost HAMPSHIRE. (Please also write P&O, I&EU, FM09 on the back of the envelope).
If you require a paper copy of the Information Pack or the Response Form, a copy in another language or format (such as audio, large print or Braille), or if you have any queries about the consultation, please contact: insight@hants.gov.uk, or call: 0300 555 1375**. Reference and paper copies are also available at Hampshire libraries.
* Easy Read documents are designed for people with learning disabilities or who prefer to receive information in a more visual format.
** Calls from a landline will be charged at the local rate, although mobile phone charges may vary.
Key Documents
Illustrative examples of ways that we could potentially reduce or change services can be found here. Any changes to specific services would require more detailed scoping work and may be subject to further public and staff consultation.
Read more about the range of services delivered by Hampshire County Council.
In addition, linked below are some examples of the services our Directorates provide:
Watch our YouTube video
Hampshire County Council's Budget Consultation 2024-2026 (YouTube)
Privacy notice
Hampshire County Council is seeking your views, comments and information about you in order to inform its approach to balancing its budget. The information you provide in this Response Form is being collected for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest in the exercise of official authority vested in the County Council, and for reasons of substantial public interest. We will use the information to understand what people think about, and the perceived impact of, the potential options and to model the views of different groups within Hampshire. All data will remain within the UK/EEA (European Economic Area), and will only be shared with third parties where they are undertaking data processing on behalf of Hampshire County Council. We will keep your personal information securely for two years, after which it will be deleted or destroyed.
You have some legal rights in respect of the personal information we collect from you. Please see our Data Protection page for further details. You can contact the County Council’s Data Protection Officer at data.protection@hants.gov.uk. If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office.