Business Plan and Budget 2026-29: Phase 2 Engagement

Cambridgeshire County Council’s spending power is significant. For 2026-27 the council expects to have a budget of over £1.2 billion. This budget funds services such as social care for older people and those with learning disabilities, highways maintenance, education, special educational needs and disability, waste disposal, public health, protecting children and young people at risk of harm, improving the natural environment, libraries and maintaining the historic archives of the county.

Like our household budgets there have been increasing pressures on council finances. We must set a budget with the money that we have, we cannot spend more than we have. However, demand for council services is increasing, residents’ needs can be complex and inflation keeps on rising. These pressures mean we have projected gaps in our budgets from 2026-27 onwards. In other words, the cost of carrying on doing what we do at the moment is more than the money we have available.

We need to find ways of reducing what we spend, generating more income, improving how we manage what we have or finding different ways of delivering or buying services for residents.

This survey seeks your views on proposals that help us do all this. We also want to ask you about how we should prioritise the money we do have.