Staffordshire County Council's budget plans – which include a tax hike of almost five per cent from April - have been backed by senior members.

The 4.99% increase, which includes a 3% rise to meet social care costs, would mean residents in Band D properties paying an extra £1.24 a week in 2021/22.

But the authority's leader, Councillor Alan White, told fellow cabinet members at their meeting on Wednesday that Staffordshire residents paid the third lowest county council tax in England.

The presentation of the 2021/22 revenue budget and the latest Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), which covers the next five years up to 2026, is the start of the process, Councillor White added.

"There are a number of stages to go through yet, including taking it to scrutiny, listening to their comments, bringing it back to cabinet and then presenting it to full council for sign-off", he said.

"With this we remain the third lowest county council tax-charging authority in England and that's a record we can be proud of. I hope that the residents of Staffordshire understand that they get value for money.

"As Staffordshire works to recover from the effects of the pandemic this council is directing all of its resources to help people and business get moving again. In the year ahead we will be listening to Staffordshire people to act on the issues that matter most to them, while continuing to invest time and money in those things in our communities that support people to help themselves and one another.

"The county council continues to invest in physical and electronic infrastructure and promoting Staffordshire, so that our economy can prosper and generate more jobs and opportunities. This investment will also ensure growing communities have everything they need including school places, transport links and superfast broadband connections.

"At the same time, we are determined to keep improving education and training in Staffordshire so that people can flourish at school or later in life, support families so that they can remain together safely and inspire residents to live healthy, independent lives."

Councillor Mike Sutherland, cabinet member for finance, said the latest strategic plan had been shaped by a number of factors including the Covid-19 pandemic and tackling climate change. In 2021/22 the authority is set to spend £346 million – approximately two thirds of its budget – on social care and child protection.

A balanced financial position has been reached for 2021/22 – but "significant budget gaps" remain for the years to come, cabinet members were told.

"This council has allocated over £83m since March on tackling the pandemic and supporting our communities through the crisis", Councillor Sutherland said.

"This includes over £3m on personal protective equipment for care homes and schools, £11m on testing, tracing contacts and general outbreak control, £36m on supporting care homes and providers of care to ensure they continue to care for vulnerable residents safely and £2.5m has been spent on additional safety measures to ensure children travelling to and from school are kept safe.

"Ten million pounds has been spent on a multitude of measures such as business start-up loans, food parcels, payments to nurseries, child minders and foster carers and emergency business payments.

"The pandemic has had an impact on our planned savings programme and this has resulted in a cost of £10m in delayed or unachieved savings. It has had a severe impact on finances across the country at all levels.

"What is clear from the planning approach in the MTFS is our aims of growing the economy and building more homes would take several years to realise any financial benefit to the council. Therefore the council must continue to deliver the plan to reduce its cost base to balance the budget for the immediate term whilst the longer-term initiatives are developed.

"The short term plan includes a range of activities aimed at lobbying Government to ensure care pressures are met and grant reductions are slowed. This is essential to give council the time to transform in the medium term."

Planned investments for 2021-22 include the following:

- Completion of the Stafford Western Access Route

- Completion of the i54 business park extension in South Staffordshire

- Continuation of the Lichfield Southern Bypass

- Replacement of conventional bulbs in street lights with LED lighting to save energy and cut costs

- Extra money for the roads budget to deal with winter weather and more funding to tackle weeds and kerbside maintenance;

- Creation of cycleways and improvements for pedestrians in urban areas

- The opening of a new primary school in Tamworth and work starting on two new schools in Uttoxeter and Fradley.

- Staffordshire County Council has also pledged to continue supporting businesses during the current challenging times through emergency grants, start-up support and rent relief at

- Enterprise Centres, as well as work with the Federation of Small Businesses to provide free "back office" support for a year.

Councillor Sutherland said: "This county council invests a significant sum – at least £120m each year – in a wide range of capital projects including road networks, schools and economic development schemes. The capital programme will be reported to cabinet later this month."