ADULT services are getting the biggest piece of the county council’s budget this year.

The proposed budget for 2014/15 is £428.11million – a £2.8 million or less than 1 per cent reduction on last year’s budget.

Of that money more than £147 million is being set aside for services for vulnerable adults and older people.

Schools, youth support programmes and children’s centres are expected to receive £94.8 million, while communities and infrastructure are awarded £86.2million and public health gets £21.7million.

More than 1,100 people responded to the council’s consultation on its budget priorities for the year ahead and overall the majority agreed with them.

Now the council is clear on the amount of money it will receive from the district councils through council tax income, it has been able to allocate funding to various schemes.

Part of the district council’s pot of £4.2million will be used to pay off council debt while the remaining amount will be used to fund one-off investments.

GCC has pledged £650,000 for a project to help children in care be reunited with their families, £500,000 to help develop the A417 missing link plans, a further £500,000 on flood alleviation, £250,000 to set up a Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub and a £235,000 investment to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

In addition to the new plans the cabinet has proposed a council tax freeze for the fourth year in a row.

Cllr Ray Theodoulou, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, said: “We continue to work hard to meet our ongoing savings targets at the same time as protecting spending on services for the most vulnerable people in Gloucestershire.”

If cabinet agrees the final proposals at its meeting on Wednesday, February 5 the full council will then be asked to ratify the budget on Wednesday, February 26.