Derbyshire County Council set to roll out multiple years of maximum council tax increases after pledging cut

Derbyshire County Council HQ at County Hall. Image by Eddie Bisknell

By Eddie Bisknell – Local Democracy Reporting Service

Reform-run Derbyshire County Council is set to roll out multiple years of maximum council tax increases.

Budget papers published by the authority for the next few years propose a maximum 4.99 per cent council tax increase for the coming financial year 2026-year.

These papers also pledge that the current assumption is for further maximum council tax increases up until 2030.

Reform UK, which took control of the county council in May, had consistently pledged to cut council tax levels, but has since U-turned on this plan due to the significant loss in funding and financial insecurity it would cause.

Its total spending for the next year stands at £838 million with a highlighted budget shortfall of more than £37 million, planning £22.4 million in savings in the 2026-2027 financial year.

Of the current ongoing budget pressures, £26 million relates to children’s services, linked to rising demand and inflation, followed by nearly £5 million in adults’ social care.

Meanwhile, the council outlines that the authority will need to find an additional £66 million in budget cuts by 2030.

It suggests this could be met by using the authority’s rainy day pot of reserves, but current and past financial directors have stressed that further use of these funds is not sustainable.

This followed the utilisation of £50 million a year from reserves for three consecutive years under the former Conservative administration.

The budget report states: “The council is legally required to set a balanced budget in advance of the beginning of each financial year. 

“In the context of the significant cost and demand pressures set out above, together with reducing levels of reserves, the council must identify and deliver a significant programme of savings and efficiencies during 2026-27 and beyond.”

The budget does not rule out job cuts but states that it will seek to avoid this where possible through other savings within departments, vacancy controls, redeployments, and “voluntary release”.

Potential job losses will be detailed once the savings plans are progressed, the council says, indicating that these would be linked to the planned closure of the Glossop tip, which is expected to save £360,000.

It does not contain any reference to the previously discussed pay review strategy, which Reform had said it was due to delay, claiming this would save in the region of £20 million.

Cllr Stephen Reed, the council’s cabinet member for business services, had said the administration was committed to delaying the review because “the money is not there”.

The pay review was being pursued for multiple years by the former Conservative administration to address existing pay disparities, leaving some Derbyshire staff earning less than those at other authorities.

This deferral will leave the disparity in place until councils realign through local government reorganisation, which will prompt a Derbyshire-wide pay review.

Reform stated that the deferral is for two years, so that the county council review does not need to be conducted twice.

The council budget papers continue: “Following a period of high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis, and continuing increased demand for council services, particularly in respect of social care, the council faced significant cost and demand pressures. 

“Whilst the council maintains an adequate level of general reserve, further in-year budget overspends and failure to achieve the level of budget savings required in order to balance the budget would see the balance of the general reserve substantially depleted and lead to issues around financial sustainability that would require urgent, radical savings rather than the planned process that minimises the impacts of reductions as far as possible. 

“The use of reserves to support the ongoing revenue budget pressures is not sustainable and must be limited to one-off investments or to support the delivery of improvements and efficiencies.”

It states that the budget proposes £40 million in new funding, but that £30 million comes from the maximum council tax increase and £10 million from new Government grants, including the recent changes to local government finance.

The council writes: “The key point to note is that the council, being a rural shire county, has suffered as a result of the reforms to the settlement that have been introduced. In order to maintain funding levels, there will be a need to set increases in council tax at the maximum permitted level.

Late last year, the Reform-run council committed to spending up to £5 million on consultants to help find ways to save money – potentially between £19 and £39 million.

A major plan for a large-scale transformation of how the council is run was kick-started under the previous Conservative administration.

This had aimed to save £20 million by cutting from its burgeoning spend on support staff, which make up 2,600 of its 12,000 workforce.

Since then, Cllr Alan Graves, the council’s Reform leader, has said he aims to cut 2,000 staff from the council.

Cllr John Lawson, cabinet member for council efficiency, said: “Since May, we have thrown everything we’ve got at ensuring this council is running as efficiently as possible and that every pound is accounted for and spent wisely for the benefit of Derbyshire residents, with no wasteful spending.

“It is well-known that council budgets across the country, not just Derbyshire, are stretched, and the challenges of delivering quality services that people rely on remain.

“That’s why, although hard work has ensured the council is in a much stronger position than it has been, we are having to put new savings plans forward to ensure we balance the books.

“The pressures in some areas, especially in children’s social care, are incredibly challenging, but careful planning across the council as a whole means we are looking to the future with confidence.”