Serving Hampshire: Balancing the Budget Consultation

June 11, 2021

Hampshire County Council has launched a consultation to understand the views of residents and stakeholders across Hampshire on options to help the Authority deliver a balanced budget up to 2023/24.

Local authorities are required by law to deliver a balanced budget – which means they cannot spend more than is available.

However, growing demand for local services, particularly social care, and the absence of multi-year funding from the Government means that Hampshire County Council continues to face a total budget shortfall of at least £80 million over the next two years (2022/23 and 2023/24).

They would like to hear your views on several high-level options that could contribute towards balancing the County Council’s revenue budget. This might involve:

  • introducing and increasing charges for some services;
  • lobbying central Government for legislative changes;
  • generating additional income;
  • using the County Council’s reserves;
  • reducing and changing services;
  • increasing Council Tax;
  • changing local government arrangements in Hampshire

They also welcome other suggestions that could help meet the budget shortfall and any information to help them understand the potential impacts of these options.

You can take part in the consultation via the online response form on the Balancing the Budget webpage.

The Serving Hampshire Balancing the Budget consultation is open from until 11:59pm on Sunday 18 July 2021.

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