CUMBERLAND Council’s proposed budget for the next financial year will be placed under the spotlight at a meeting next week.

Members of the council’s business and resources overview and scrutiny committee are due to meet at Allerdale House in Workington on Tuesday (November 19).

They are due to consider both the Budget Strategy 2025-26 and the Budget Consultation Report and it is recommended to consider the budget strategy report from the executive committee as well as providing feedback and receive and scrutinise the consultation report.

According to the budget strategy report it was submitted to the executive at its meeting on Tuesday, October 15, to inform members of the financial challenges facing the council and the key planning assumptions and approach that will be taken to deliver a balanced budget in 2025/26.

It is aimed that this will “ensure the council’s financial sustainability over the medium and longer term”.

The report states: “The council is continuing to face challenging budget pressures. These pressures include increasing demand for services, most notably in social care, and the long-term impacts of the pandemic, all set alongside the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis including rising inflation and energy prices.

“The council has an approved Transformation Programme. This aims to change the way we operate and deliver services, continue the work on realising the opportunities and benefits of becoming a unitary council and address the budget gaps.”

According to the report between 2010 and 2020, councils are estimated to have lost 40 percent of core government funding on average, at a time when demand for core services has risen relentlessly.

It adds: “Alongside inflation embedding permanently higher costs for councils, Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis has significantly increased demand for services and adversely impacted the provider markets councils operate within.”

According to the report additional costs faced by the council are primarily driven in the three key service areas: children’s social care, adult social care and home to school transport.

Tuesday’s public meeting is due to begin at 4pm.