The Cabinet has today opted not to progress with all the savings recommendations which would see changes and reductions in some local services from 2025/26 onwards, and to scale back savings plans in other areas. Options around 13 service areas were put forward to the Cabinet to help towards closing the County Council’s revised two-year budget gap of £175 million, which is now predicted for the 2025/26 financial year. In common with many councils nationally, it is now increasingly difficult for the local authority to keep providing all the services it has done previously as costs continue to rise alongside growing demand in key areas like social care for vulnerable children, older people and adults with complex needs and disabilities.
Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Nick Adams-King said: “We have worked hard and given careful thought to the proposals put forward to help us address our future financial pressures. We have listened to the feedback collected from residents, partners and organisations during our public consultation, who raised their concerns about some of the ideas and their potential impacts on local communities. For this reason, we have examined every possible alternative solution in the key areas where residents felt very strongly.
“The first thing to say about the outcome of today’s Cabinet meeting is that we have found a way forward which was not easy in the current climate and is in line with the careful and responsible approach this Council takes with its finances on behalf of the residents of Hampshire.
“We have retained all household waste recycling centres – a service residents told us they value considerably – plus all school crossing patrols. We have also identified a way to bring together our passenger transport service - retaining vital support to many older residents with disabilities - with the provision of school transport for eligible children, so that existing vehicles are better used across the day to serve children and adults at different times.
“In some areas however, we have had to make the difficult and unavoidable decision to go ahead with the recommended changes and reductions to help towards balancing our budgets in future, but in others, such as homelessness support, which is not a legal responsibility of the County Council, I am pleased that we will be able to honour the current contracts that are in place and protect funding to March 2026.
“Now that formal decisions have been made on the savings proposals, we will take them forward over the coming year with a view to maximising the savings that can be achieved by April 2025. We will of course ensure people using these services and the wider public are made aware of changes well before they are made and what the potential impacts might be.
“At the same time, alongside these and other savings which will eventually deliver over £84 million each year, we continue to press our case to Government for crucial additional funding and greater freedom to make our own decisions so local government can find alternative ways to keep serving our local communities in a sustainable and fair way. We will keep focusing on driving down costs across all areas of the County Council – working differently and more efficiently across services, streamlining our back-office functions and business structures, generating income, and sharing our resources with other public sector organisations, as well as disposing of land and buildings we no longer need. We are also undertaking an exercise to look at the potential impact of focusing on delivering just those services that form our core purpose as a local authority, and the new savings that could be identified from this, so the County Council can live within its means and prioritise providing the essentials when serving the people of Hampshire.”
The reference to £84m of savings relates to a combination of the proposals agreed by the Cabinet on 14 October 2024 following consultation, plus the other savings measures agreed by the full County Council in November 2023, which did not require public consultation.
Decisions made by the County Council’s Cabinet
Highways maintenance
Cabinet notes the additional anticipated uplift funding of £13.76 million for the 2025/6 financial year and the proposals for raising money, ringfenced for Highway Maintenance and Schemes to tackle congestion proposed through the emerging Disruption Charging schemes, which will provide significant additional funding for highway repairs. Additionally, Cabinet notes the confirmation that the reduction in budget will not affect pothole and defect repairs, and therefore, that Cabinet approves the reduction in the annual highway maintenance budget for planned maintenance activity by £7.5 million from April 2025.
The planned budget reduction will only affect larger scale planned maintenance activities.
Highways winter service
Undertake a review and then update the County Council’s Highway Winter Services in consideration of changes to travelling behaviours and recent updates to national guidance. The review and subsequent implementation would provide annual budget savings of £1 million from April 2025. This would be achieved through the revision and implementation of revised winter service treatment routes developed in accordance with current national guidelines and assessments of the way in which people in Hampshire travel during periods of winter weather, as well as through operational efficiency savings arising from the changes.
Passenger transport
To note the outcome of the 2024 Future Services Consultation in relation to the proposals on the future of the Passenger Transport provision.
To note the changes to the proposals that were set out in the Future Services Consultation, as detailed within this report as a result of the responses received.
Remove the following County Council revenue funding totalling £587,000 as detailed within the report and based on the results of the Consultation:
- Connect: Taxi-share services saving £157,000 per annum
- Supported local bus services saving £262,000 per annum
- Other passenger transport savings £168,000 per annum
Approve a revised approach in which both community transport and school transport are jointly commissioned and delivered together, thereby maintaining a level of service to meet the transport needs of older and disabled people whilst reducing the funding required for school transport. This would generate a further approximate saving of £500,000 per annum for the County Council.
Cabinet notes the concerns of the Chairs of the Children and Young Persons and Health and Adult Service Select Committees, and of the Universal Service Committee and their request the Cabinet to look again ‘holistically’ at the Passenger Transport proposal before making any decisions.
Cabinet also notes the Universal Select Committee request that Cabinet considers the impact of Passenger Transport on all the services affected by the proposals in order to achieve a more joined up service for all children and adults, and to ensure efficient use of council resources. This should ideally include home to school transport.
Cabinet agrees that a review should be taken alongside implementation of the effect on all services to ensure social care service users are not adversely impacted, especially those with special needs and disability, but also considers the effect of withdrawing these services on mental health, loneliness and rural communities.
That authority is delegated to the Director of Universal Services to take all necessary steps, including entering into contractual arrangements in consultation with the Head of Legal Services, and fulfilling procurement requirements, to implement the proposed changes to passenger transport services as set out in this report once approval has been obtained from the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services post the concerns identified in the paragraph 5 above have been addressed.
School Crossing Patrols
Cabinet agrees to defer the decision to save £0.114 million from the 17 sites that do not meet the criteria for justifying an SCP until further detailed site assessments have been carried out.
That a further 156 SCP sites, including 4 sites that have been vacant for four or more years, are reviewed to assess whether suitable alternative measures that are financially viable in the long term could be put in place for children to cross the road safely at the site without the requirement for an SCP.
That at sites where the assessment determines suitable alternative measures that are financially viable in the long term are in place or can be put in place for children to cross the road safely without the requirement for an SCP, that the alternative measures are implemented and the SCP service at those sites is withdrawn.
Rural countryside parking
Implement charging at rural countryside car parking sites wholly owned by the Council with 20 or more spaces where commercially viable from April 2025, with a phased introduction to allow supporting infrastructure to be put in place.
Implement charging at rural countryside car parking sites in joint ownership with the Council and/or under 20 spaces where commercially viable. This may include consolidation of sites within a local area, or expansion of existing sites.
Where implemented, charges at rural countryside car parking sites will be reviewed annually in line with the current pricing policy as amended from time to time.
Income from car parking charging would contribute to the costs to Hampshire County Council of managing Hampshire Countryside sites.
Street lighting
That on residential streets where streetlights are already switched off between 1am and 4am, this period is extended by two hours per night so that lights are switched off from midnight until 05:00, excluding the night of 24 December into 25 December, and the night of 31 December into 1 January, when the lights would remain on all night.
Approve the approach for the removal of up to £0.5 million budget provision for street lighting energy as detailed in the Cabinet report and based on the results of the public consultation.
Reduce lighting levels in residential streets as follows:
- 23:30 to midnight and 05:00 to 05:30 – lighting levels would be reduced by changing dimming from 65% to 80%.
Reduce lighting levels on the classified (A, B and C class) road network as follows:
- Between dusk and 23:30 – lighting levels will be reduced by changing dimming from 30% to 45%.
- 23:30 to 05:30 – there will be no change and lighting levels would remain at 50%.
- 05:30 to dawn – lighting levels will be reduced by changing dimming from 25% to 40%
Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs)
To note the outcome of the 2024 Future Services Consultation in relation to the proposals on the future of the Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRCs) network.
Cabinet further notes the concern of the Universal Services Select Committee and their recommendation that there should be no closures of HWRCs.
Cabinet further notes the progress toward a revised and improved waste and recycling system including the construction of the Materials Recovery Facility in Eastleigh. The work toward identifying a whole system cost for Hampshire’s waste and recycling system and the potential once completed for an improved and better recycling and integrated waste partnership between the County Council and its District, Borough and City Council partners.
Consequently, Cabinet does not agree to the closure of HWRCs in Tier 3 and Tier 4 (as set out in Table 1, Paragraph 23) and requests that they be included in the county-wide review of waste and recycling to be reported to Cabinet once the revised Simpler Recycling process has been implemented.
Competitive (one-off) grant schemes
Withdraw three competitive grant schemes which provide one-off funding grants to a range of community groups and organisations, Parish and Town Councils, namely:
- Leader’s Community Grants
- Rural Communities Fund (including country shows)
- Parish and Town Council Investment Fund
Hampshire Cultural Trust grant
Reduce the annual grant to Hampshire Cultural Trust by £600,000 from 1 April 2027.
Homelessness Support Services
That the County Council does not end funding for Homelessness Support Services (also known as Social Inclusion Services) on 30 April 2025
The County Council gives six months’ notice to terminate the six contracts and three grant agreements in place for these services to bring these contracts and grant agreements to an end on 31 March 2026. Thus, continuing their payment to the end of the contract term.
Cabinet notes the concerns raised by the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee and agrees that Adults’ Health and Care ensures that anyone using County Council funded Homelessness Support Services who would be impacted now and in future years by this proposal has access to a Care Act Assessment.
Adult Social Care grant schemes
Cease the Councils for Voluntary Service Infrastructure Grant scheme from 1 April 2025, saving £500,000 per year from the associated budget.
Cease the Citizens Advice Infrastructure grant scheme from 1 April 2025 saving £65,000 per year from the associated budget.
Cease the Local Solutions Grant scheme from 1 April 2025, saving £55,000 per year from the associated budget.
Adult Social Care charges
Take into account 100% of an individual’s assessable income when carrying out a financial assessment for care other than in a care home and amend the Paying for Care Policy and guidance accordingly, with the change to take effective from April 2025.
Library stock
Reduce stock spend by £250,000 per annum focusing on the following priorities, identified by Hampshire’s residents and library users from feedback through the Future Services Consultation;
- Reduce spend on a combination of physical and digital stock;
- Prioritise spending on children’s physical stock;
- Prioritise spending on paperbacks rather than hardbacks;
- Prioritise buying a wider range of items, with reduced copies of new titles and prioritise purchasing books over other resources.