Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet has heard how the latest funding settlement will affect the authority.

The Government’s announcement means that Leicestershire County Council’s formula grant will fall by 13.8 per cent (£17.5 million) next year and 8.5 per cent (£9.1 million) the following year.

Nick Rushton, Cabinet member for resources, said: This is a tough settlement for the county council, but it’s within the range of what we were planning".

We have to save in excess of £80 million over four years. Over £50 million of that will be efficiency savings, with no impact on services, but we will also have to take difficult decisions.”

Leicestershire’s grant reductions are higher than the average reduction for England, of 9.9 per cent and reductions for shire counties, of 12.6 per cent.

There is continuing uncertainty around specific grants but the council welcomes the additional £6.4 million of NHS funding for health and social care.

Further details are expected when the council issues its budget proposals in mid-January.