Shropshire Council’s Cabinet will consider the latest update on its financial position when they meet next week (Wednesday 9 July 2025).
The Period 2 monitoring report, which provides a budget update of the first two months of this financial year, shows the challenging financial position the council is in. It warns that demand pressures continue, and the previously proposed savings delivery continues to be urgently addressed.
The report shows there is a slight improvement in the reserves position at the end of March albeit they are still at a dangerously low level. It notes that work continues to be carried out to deliver the £60 million saving that is needed.
If no further action is taken, based on this month’s monitoring, an overspend of £13.174 million has been projected at the end of this financial year, leaving just £606,000 in the council’s General Fund Balance, otherwise known as reserves.
This is not enough for a council the size of Shropshire Council which should have at least £15 million in its reserves for use in emergency situations and to balance the budget if needed.
Councillor Roger Evans, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for finance, said:
“This further underlines the near impossible situation we have inherited.
“Despite our hard-working officers making savings this pressure continues with residents of all ages requiring more care plus the cost of providing services to our rural areas increasing whilst government grants are reducing.
“We are continuing to re-examine the previously agreed budget and are working on plans to achieve savings we must make to bring the budget back into balance and start to replenish reserves to the recommended minimum safe level. To do this will require a number of tough decisions. In making these though, the needs of our many different communities will be foremost in our mind.
“To do this, in conjunction with our MPs we continue to push the Government to change how it funds social care and to stop penalising large sparsely populated rural counties like Shropshire, as this year’s settlement did, where it costs more and more to run many services.”
To view the report, people can visit the council’s website here: https://shropshire.gov.uk/committee-services/documents/s41815/Financial%20Montoring%20Period%202%202025.06-30052025%201707.pdf
