Find out what was discussed at the latest meeting of Warwickshire County Council's Cabinet.
Detail as to how the Council will spend its budget, its priority areas of focus and how the council will hold itself to account, and the distribution of funding to help the county’s residents that are most in need were among items discussed at today’s meeting of Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet.
Adjustments to the Council’s budget, set in February of this year, were agreed and include additional funding allocation to the Families First Programme. Cabinet noted the current potential challenges to the Council’s financial position which include the possible impact of inflation arising from the conflict in Iran and the potential gap in allocation of funding for Adult Social Care.
Cabinet agreed a set of Key Business Measures (KBMs) to be included in this year's Council’s Performance Management Framework. They are based on the current draft Council Plan and should any changes be needed to the Framework once engagement on the Plan is completed, these will be presented to a future meeting.
A new, national Local Outcomes Framework is being established by Government to help understand progress across priority outcomes in local areas. This new approach means that residents will be more easily able to view performance and benchmark against other councils.
Following a formal consultation and statutory process, Cabinet agreed to the closure of Great Alne Primary School from 31 August 2026. The decision reflects a sustained decline in pupil numbers and increasing financial pressures, alongside concerns about the school’s long-term viability and ability to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum. Cabinet heard that there were already sufficient alternative school places for children from the local area available, and that any affected families would be offered individual support to find new a school place for their child.
Cabinet authorised the process by which the new Crisis Resilience Fund will be delivered. This government grant is ringfenced to help low-income households with Warwickshire receiving £17.5m staggered over the next three years.
The Councillor Grant Fund will now be reviewed, with an agreement for a cross-party working group to be established. This will look at how the fund – which allocates £8,000 annually to each County Councillor – can most efficiently meet communities’ needs.
Finally, Cabinet signed off the priorities for nature recovery in Warwickshire, and regional partners at Coventry and Solihull, as outlined in the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (link to release).
Cllr George Finch, Leader of Warwickshire County Council, said: “Cabinet agreed a range of measures that will support families, particularly those facing financial hardship, as we took stock of our financial position and how that might be affected in the short term by rising inflation and associated costs.
“We also agreed a clear vision for what our priority areas of focus should be and how we would measure effectiveness. I was pleased to see that our work for Warwickshire’s communities has a clear vision which will be essential if we are to deliver the very best value for money.”
The full meeting can be viewed here while all reports can be found here.