Residents and businesses are being urged to have their say on council services and priorities in Somerset Council’s annual budget consultation.

The consultation is open to everyone and the results will help influence Councillors as they look to set a balanced budget in February 2025.

Since declaring a financial emergency in November 2023, Somerset Council has looked across all service areas to find savings to avoid having to issue a Section 114 notice. This is like a bankruptcy notice for councils, issued when they can no longer balance their budgets.

For the next financial year (2025/26), the latest budget figures project a funding gap of £88.8m with work underway to find savings. Measures are already in place, including a top-to-bottom staff restructuring programme, to reduce this gap to £53.8m.

Council Leader Cllr Bill Revans said:

We have been very open about our financial emergency due to soaring costs and demands on services like adults and children’s social care.

We have worked hard to avoid a S114 notice and have had to consider many difficult and heart-breaking decisions.

But we are also a listening council, and last year we took on board feedback from our budget consultation to remove some proposals and protect others by working in partnership with our fantastic City, Town and Parish Councils.

You told us we should be lobbying the Government for fairer funding and we have done so, using every opportunity to highlight the national financial crisis which clearly needs a national solution.

We will continue to use our voice to stand up for Somerset. Please use your voice to let us know what matters to you.

The budget consultation opens today (13 December) and is due to close on 15 January. The link can be found by visiting the Council’s Budget Consultation 2025/2026 page.