Devon County Council has confirmed it will suffer a £10 million pound hit to its 2025/2026 budget.

The blow comes after the Government announced it is to abolish the Rural Services Delivery Grant, which has previously helped rural councils with the extra costs they face providing services.

In Devon, this money goes towards things like school transport and care services to those in remote locations.

The grant is being transformed into a new Recovery Grant that will go to councils in areas with the highest deprivation in the country.

Devon County Council leader, James McInnes, said: “It’s a real disappointment that we won’t be getting any mitigation for the loss of this £10.1 million grant.

“So we are facing an immediate need to make further savings in our spending to offset the loss of this grant.”

Last year the Rural Services Grant provided £110 million to support people in rural communities with £10.1 million going to Devon and £4 million going to district and borough councils and the fire service.

The Government announced its grant settlement to Devon for the 2025/2026 financial year and confirmed that Devon will not be receiving any money from the deprivation Recovery Grant.

Cllr James McInnes, continued: “Services cost much more to provide in rural communities because of their sparse nature.

“Our bill for getting children to school is one of the highest in the country – particularly in the secondary sector where students can live miles away from their nearest school or college.

“It costs more to provide social care for our elderly and vulnerable residents because of the increased costs of carers getting from one rural village to the next rather than looking after people who live in the same street or neighbourhood.

“Responding to last minute savings like this is never an efficient, effective or economic way of spending the money we raise from council taxpayers instead of our usual prudent planning.”

Cllr McInnes also highlighted that Devon has one of the biggest road networks in the country to maintain and repair.