Yesterday we passed the Council’s Budget for the next year. It sets out how we will spend £244m on services for our residents during 2026/27. The vast majority of that goes on people services – Adult and Children’s Social Care. This is necessary of course, but it’s important people realise that everything else we do – roads, waste & recycling, parks, business support and all the other things that make up the work of the Council, come from a small proportion of our annual spending. We have worked hard to deliver a budget which protects frontline services with the limited resources available to us.
As part of the budget, Council Tax will increase by 2.99% and the Adult Social Care precept at 2%. It’s not far off the level of inflation. It’s also in line with most local authorities and some have increased by more than this. It is never easy to ask our residents to contribute more. This isn’t something we do lightly. We know household budgets are strained, but we have to find a balance which ensures financial stability whilst still allowing us to deliver the services Silhillians rely on. There will always be financial challenges for future years, and we will continue to lobby government whilst exploring every option including continued redesign of services to ensure we get the best value for money on behalf of everyone in Solihull.
One of the major things behind the current financial challenges we (and nearly every other council) are facing is the increasing cost of SEND services. SEND stands for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and the aim of these services is to give kids the chance to access education in a way that works for them. It’s vital we provide the best service we can for children, young people, and their families. I have carefully read the Education White Paper and the SEND reform consultation the government released earlier this week. I welcome the scope of it, I don’t think there are many people who think the current SEND system is in perfect working order, so the attempt to make change is necessary. We will need to see how this will be delivered – it must put children at the heart of SEND services. I am sure more detail will follow and there will be much more to say on this. I just hope that the new system leads to better outcomes for children and young people with SEND and a better deal for schools.
Whilst I’m talking about SEND, I just want to take the chance to direct you to this lovely story if you’ve not already seen it. In recent weeks the Mayor has welcomed over 60 children who were nominated for our SEND awards for afternoon tea at the Civic Suite.
On a completely different topic - to help residents save money on their energy bills, and access tariffs backed by 100% renewable energy, the Council has partnered with Switch Together Energy, formerly known by the name Big Community Switch.
Finally, the Winter Olympics drew to a close last weekend. It was the most successful games ever for Team GB, so huge congratulations to them. At least two of the athletes are strongly connected Solihull – Niall Treacy, the speed skater, was born and started skating here and Zoe Atkin, who gloriously won Bronze in the halfpipe has a strong family connection to the borough. Well done to them and all the athletes who did us proud in Italy across the last few weeks.
Thanks for reading,
Karen