Fair Share Campaign

Your services are funded through a combination of a Government grant and money generated through council tax.

We receive poor funding from central government across all our services - 20 per cent less per head of population than the average County Council.

For example, funding for our schools is the lowest in the country.  For each pupil we receive £200 a year below the average for other County Councils and £419 a year below the national average.

Our fairer funding campaign is being launched in partnership with Leicestershire Police.  Both authorities are lobbying for better funding settlements as the current levels fall well short of what is needed to meet costs.

Next year the increase in our Government grant will be less than one per cent.  At the same time the costs of providing services is increasing dramatically.

For example, due to Government and EU legislation, the cost of waste disposal will rise by 10 per cent.  In addition, the cost of caring for older people and adults with learning disabilities is increasing much more than inflation.

Despite this, as your four-star County Council, we are determined to continue to provide the highest standard of services possible.

Last year, more than three and a half million books/DVDs/CDs and videos were borrowed from our libraries.  More than 50,000 sessions were attended by older people at our day centres and we managed the disposal of 240,000 tonnes of waste.

Our aim is to maintain the standard of services we provide and improve our priority areas, such as libraries and recycling facilities, without major council tax increases.

To do this, savings will have to be made.  Most of these will come from improving efficiency, but reductions in lower priority services are likely to be required.

We will be consulting with local residents on our financial strategy.  We are keen to hear your views on whether:

A survey will be issued to our Citizens' Panel members and we will be asking small focus groups made up of local residents and their views.  The results of which will help us to plan our Budget for the next financial year.

To contact us about our campaign for fairer funding e-mail : fairerfunding@leics.gov.uk or call : 0116 3056199

Overall, the County Council receives £25 million less grant than neighbouring counties - which will rise to £31 million over the next few years (equivalent to £50 less funding per person).

In 2007/08 Government funding is expected to only increase by 0.8 per cent (£0.6 million) compared to an inflation bill of over £7m (2.8%).