Nottinghamshire’s Reform finance official has insisted plans to find more than £40 million in budget savings “are not cuts” as the authority bids to ease financial pressures.
An update to Nottinghamshire County Council’s finances was presented in the authority’s Overview Committee meeting on Thursday (January 15).
Councils across the country are dealing with increased money pressures, particularly in adult social care, where care package costs and national living wages from providers are rising.
The Reform-led authority says the increase in financial pressures across its departments up to 2028/29 totals £40 million, with this total figure to 2028/29 now standing at £94.2 million.
Nigel Stevenson, the authority’s finance director, says the growth in cost and demand for adult social care for the 2026/27 financial year has risen by 10 per cent.
But the council plans to find £44.2 million in what it calls ‘mitigations’ by 2028/29 across its medium term financial strategy – an authority’s financial plan on how it will maintain financial stability.
These mitigations – branded cuts by opponents – includes savings of around £21.3 million in adult social care, £17.5 million in its children and families department and around £2.75 million in SEND transport savings.
The county council’s finance councillor, Stuart Matthews, says these planned savings “are not cuts” and insisted “we’re not a slash and burn administration”.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “From my business perspective, it’s finding a better way of doing it. New officers in adult social care and children’s services have grasped this with welcomeness and new ideas.
“It’s about maximising prevention, optimising packages for care, internal efficiencies, income and charging.”
Cllr Matthews’ business background has seen him build “two businesses up from nothing”, selling one for £3 million and the other for £1.5 million. He says he is “very confident” in the authority’s financial standing, adding: “I’ve never worked in any establishment that’s bankrupt – I’m not going to start now.”
Opposition members have expressed concern for the planned £44.2 million of savings, calling it “the largest mitigation programme this council has every put forward”.
In a statement to the LDRS, Conservative shadow cabinet member for finance, Cllr Stuart Bestwick, said it relies on “reversing national trends” in adult social care, children’s services and SEND demand.
He said: “In local government, budgets overspend for two reasons: rising demand and savings that don’t materialise. If savings on this scale fail, residents always pay the price – through service cuts or higher council tax.
“Despite repeated references to efficiency reviews, there are still no clear figures showing what those reviews have actually delivered so far.”
Another notable figure in the meeting’s documents shows a £28.7 million budget gap by 2028/29 as of December 2025 – a rise from the projected £15.9 million budget shortfall published in November 2025.
But Cllr Matthews says the authority has reached this £28.7 million figure by not factoring in some use of reserves and by acting as if council tax was set at zero, “before any discussions of what council tax is going to be”.
He added: “It suggests plenty of headroom of what the council tax level would be. You can infer from that, that any council tax intention is to make sure the council is not in deficit.”
The Reform administration says it inherited a £20.8 million deficit in adult social care from the previous Conservative council, where it is expected to be around £10 million by the end of 2025/26.
Council papers say: “Any overspend at year-end will draw upon reserves.”
Cllr Bestwick’s (Con) statement said: “Reform did not inherit a failing council from us Conservatives – they inherited a financially well-run, efficient authority managing pressures felt across the whole country.
“The £28.7m figure being quoted is based on a scenario that assumes no council tax increase and no planned use of reserves. That is not a real-world budget position.
“What is real is that Reform are already drawing on reserves to deal with in-year overspending. Reserves can buy time, but they are not a long-term solution.”
