The county council currently needs to plug an expected £90 million gap in its day-to-day spending
Leaders have not yet set out the cost of the audit(Image: LeicestershireLive)
Leicestershire County Council looks set to launch a “major” savings review – but questions remain over how much the audit itself will cost.
The Reform UK-run local authority is seeking to bring in an external company to carry out a deep-dive into its spending in a bid to cut costs. The county council currently needs to plug an expected £90 million gap in its day-to-day spending by 2029 in order to balance its books – something it is legally bound to do.
A further £80 million needs to be found in the pot of money set aside for projects and the council has a £118 million deficit for special educational needs and disability support. This is despite more than £280 million in savings having already been made across the council’s spending since 2010, with the authority long acknowledged to be one of the worst funded in the country.
Opposition councillors have criticised the use of external consultants as “expensive”, while questions remain over precisely how much this audit is going to cost. Conservative leader of the opposition Deborah Taylor said it was “disappointing” that leaders were taking this approach rather than using the free DOGE-style audit promised by Reform UK in the run up to the election.
She said: “Leicestershire County Council has been underfunded for years. Despite cross-party efforts, repeated representations to successive UK Governments have fallen on deaf ears. Under the previous Conservative administrations, we delivered over £280 million in savings from 2010-2025, protected vital services, and we were consistently ranked among the most efficient county councils in England, all whilst being the lowest funded.
“The new Reform administration have chosen not to use their party’s free DOGE Team, as promised during the election campaign. Disappointingly, instead, they have chosen to spend taxpayers’ money on expensive outside consultants, something they also called out during the election campaign as ‘wasting tax payers money’.
“They are yet to publish how much these consultants are costing, so there is a clear lack of transparency.”
Reform UK leader of Leicestershire County Council Dan Harrison discussing finances at the scrutiny commission meeting on Monday, September 8(Image: Leicestershire County Council)
Prior to the election, Reform UK accused the then-Conservative leaders of the authority of “wasting staggering sums” including through spending “more than £35 million in consultants in just three years”. A party spokesman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service at the time: “Reform councillors elected in May will introduce a British-style DOGE to audit Leicestershire County Council, cancel the fraudulent contracts and stop the waste.
“Only then can a Reform-led council start to deliver for local people. Whether that’s lowering council tax, fixing potholes and investing in services.” The party later clarified it did not have evidence that fraud had been committed, but would be “examining contracts” to “ensure they were procured properly”.
Following the election, Reform again confirmed a DOGE-style audit – based on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team which worked for US President Donald Trump – was expected for Leicestershire and would not “cost the public purse a penny” as its team would be working “pro bono”. However, the party could not give a date for when the auditors would come to the county.
No figure has yet been given for how much the external audit is going to cost Leicestershire County Council, with a spokeswoman saying that information would be “confirmed subject to Cabinet approval and the usual legal time periods”. Cabinet is set to meet next week to sign off on the audit contract.
The upcoming review has been described as “wide-ranging” by the authority, with a spokeswoman saying it will “take a fine-tooth comb to all of the authority’s £1.3 billion yearly spend”. It is expected to focus on bringing down costs through prevention work, how the council buys things and reducing duplication, as well as speeding up projects already in place – such as work to reduce the growing cost of children’s social care placements.
Leader Dan Harrison said: “We were elected to cut costs. With a sizeable £90 million gap looming, doing nothing isn’t an option and we’re rolling up our sleeves and getting on with the job.
“We’re leading the way for other councils with this pioneering deep dive. Services are critical and we’re supported by a great team of officers who will be working alongside consultants.
Conservative leader of the opposition on Leicestershire County Council, Deborah Taylor(Image: LeicestershireLive)
“We want new insight and ideas and getting fresh pairs of eyes from outside the council will help us get maximum value for our Council Tax payers. The benefits will by far outweigh the cost over the long term.”
Councillor Harrison Fowler, newly-appointed cabinet member for resources, added: “The scale of the challenge means we need to dig deep and act decisively. Balancing the books requires a tight grip. Make no mistake, this is a big task but I’m confident it will generate practical ways of driving down our costs.”
Initial recommendations for savings are expected early in the New Year and will inform future budgets, the council council has said. However, the authority is expected to go to public consultation on next year’s (2026/27) budget in December ahead of the spending plan being signed off by councillors in February.
Leicestershire Reform UK recently confirmed it is planning to raise council tax for residents next financial year. This is currently expected to be a three-per-cent rise, rather than a potential full five-per-cent hike, but it still marks a U-turn on previously leadership promises to cut taxes.
The LDRS had previously asked Coun Harrison why a freeze or reduction in council tax was no longer considered viable for the coming year. We also asked what criteria needed to be met for the increase to remain at the intended three per cent and, should it come to a choice between an even higher council tax hike or cutting services, what the administration’s first priority would be. We did not get direct answers to these questions.
Instead, he said: “Of course I want to keep council tax rises to a minimum and my ambition is to peg it at three per cent. I’m working hard to do that but also listening to what this would mean for our services.
“It’s important we get this right. It’s too early in the budget cycle to give precise figures but when more analysis is done over the next month or so, we’ll be able to say more about our proposals.”
