Residents have a further opportunity to share their views on how Cambridgeshire County Council should prioritise spending and savings in the years ahead.
An engagement survey is launching today (Wednesday 3 December). It will gather views on key spending, savings and investment proposals. This will be the second phase of engagement following a previous phase in October and November.
The draft business plan and budget, which will be discussed at the Strategy, Resources and Performance committee next Thursday (11 December), reflects priorities identified through the annual Quality of Life Survey and feedback from Phase One of engagement with residents and stakeholders. Papers for the committee have been published today.
The report also includes how the council is refocusing its vision – “a healthy, fair and sustainable Cambridgeshire” – and streamlining its Strategic Framework. These changes are informed by what residents have told the council about a range of issues including the conditions of our roads, maintaining good health and concerns about the cost of living, jobs and the environment. This refreshed Strategic Framework will be discussed in the coming weeks alongside the draft business plan and budget proposals.
Every year, the council must set a budget which balances need against income. This income comes mainly from council tax (around 74 per cent of council funding) with other sources coming from business rates, government grants, and service fees. These funds support a wide range of council services, including social care, education, libraries, highways and transport, environmental services, and waste management. Therefore, the survey gives people another opportunity to have their say regarding how the Council is prioritising its approach to delivering services.
2026/27 sees a continued and significant increase in costs due to a growing population and increasing demands – particularly in children’s and adults’ social care. Nearly two thirds of our spending goes toward social care, while other major areas of spending include Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), home to school transport, and highways maintenance.
Since 2019, the council has experienced a 122 percent increase in the costs of providing home to school transport; a 76 percent in learning disability related care costs; a 50 per cent increase in the costs of providing care for older people; a 42 percent increase in the costs of supporting children with SEND and a 99 percent in the costs of supporting children in care. These financial pressures are borne out in the current 2025/26 budget where the council faces a forecast overspend approaching £10 million and a deficit for SEND costs of nearly £100 million. Government has recognised it needs to respond to the SEND crisis nationally but has yet to share what that will mean for councils, schools or parents and carers. Along with a lack of Government funding for these vital public services means that for 2026/27 the council will face a further £22 million in financial challenges than were identified in February 2025. That means that further and even more difficult decisions about how to allocate resources and balance its budget will be required.
Consequently, the draft business plan and budget proposals set out how the council will close a projected £40.3 million budget gap for 2026-27 through a mixture of savings, additional fees and charges as well as a proposed council tax increase of 4.99 percent.
These draft plans will be scrutinised and debated at the council’s committees in January and, alongside other feedback, will be considered again by the Strategy, Resources and Performance Committee at the end of January for recommendations to be considered by the Full Council on 10 February 2026.
Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, Cllr Lucy Nethsingha, said: "This is the first budget setting process under the new administration following the May elections. It is the toughest budget setting round since I became leader and there are really difficult decisions to be made.
"Rising costs and increasing demand for social care services mean these are the main areas where we have to spend more. However, we will continue to keep sustainability at the core of our long-term planning for the area.
"This survey offers another opportunity for residents to let us know about their priorities, and I do urge people to complete the survey."
The engagement runs 3 December 2025 to 7 January 2026, with results reported to the Strategy, Resources and Performance Committee on 29 January 2026.
You can find out more and have your say at: https://yourvoice.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/business-planning/business-planning-26-27-phase-2-engagement/
Read the full proposal here
The meeting will be live streamed on the council’s YouTube channel.
