CASH pressures have been laid bare by Devon’s biggest council with claims that the way government funding works disadvantages the rural county.

Although Devon County Council notionally has more money to spend in the next financial year that begins in April, its finance lead stressed that the picture wasn’t so straightforward.

“This is not a comfortable report, but an honest one,” said Councillor James Buczkowski (Liberal Democrat, Cullompton), the cabinet member for finance.

“The government would have us believe that there is an increase in core spending and claim that they are being fair by offering a multi-year settlement, but when you strip away the spin it details how central government is stepping back and local residents are being asked to take more burden.”

Cllr Buczkowski said the only reason for the rise in core funding, a metric made up of various components, was because the government was assuming councils would increase council tax by the maximum allowed.

“That means once council tax is excluded, core funding is flat, but actually going backwards in real terms,” Cllr Buczkowski added.

He noted that inflation and the National Living Wage meant the council was having to spend more just to stand still, and that the difficulties of delivering services in a rural area were not being recognised by Westminster.

“Despite all the talk of [funding] reform, rurality is still not recognised and the long distances that people delivering services have to travel are ignored,” Cllr Buczkowski said.

“Essentially the government is assuming that we will put council tax up to the limit and collect every penny.”

Councillor Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin (Liberal Democrat, Torrington Rural), added: “We are already lobbying and pushing on this issue, but the fact is that rurality is not recognised by central government.

“We are continually raising it with Devon’s MPs and lobbying Westminster, but it is not understood or recognised properly and that is crucial to make sure we are properly funded.”

The expected £839 million is a roughly 4 per cent rise on the amount it expects to spend this year, and the majority of that will go on adult and children’s services.

Just over £395 million will go on adult services – a near £10 million increase on now – and £268 million on children’s services, up £19 million.

More than £96 million will go on climate change, environment and transport, with £58 million on corporate services.

“We have to be honest with resident about what the government is funding and what it isn’t,” Cllr Buczkowski added.

“If services are under pressure, it’s because the system remains stacked against places like Devon.”

At the end of 2024, the government announced it would remove the rural services delivery grant, something that boosted Devon County Council’s coffers by £10 million.

While the government has conducted a review of how councils are funded, Devon continues to lobby over the issue of cost when it comes to delivering services in a county like Devon.

A report prepared for Devon County Council’s cabinet (Wednesday 14 January), said: “The authority submitted a detailed and robust response to the consultation in August, highlighting that the ‘remoteness’ factor was not fit for purpose to truly represent the cost of delivering rural services, and the introduction of a ‘resource adjustment’ linked to an authority’s ability to raise council tax was expected to have a detrimental impact on the level of funding that the authority receive.

“The council commissioned independent analysis to understand the potential impact of these reforms which indicated a potentially substantial loss in funding over the three year settlement period.”