Hertfordshire Music Service, which is currently run by the county council, could become a charity, according to budget proposals.

The service currently provides weekly music lessons for around 26,000 children and young people from across the county.

And it is said, by the county council, to be "centrally important" to the quality of life and the musical experiences of young people.

Nevertheless over the past five years, the county council has cut its funding for the service by more than half – from £1m in 2016/17 to less than half that amount.

And now it has emerged the county council is to consider whether the service should be independent from the council – with the advantages of charitable status.

The future of the service is highlighted in the county council's budget proposals, that were published in advance of a meeting of the county coucil's cabinet on Monday (January 18).

"The Hertfordshire Music service is a centrally important contributor to the quality of life and range of musical experience and participation available to young people in Hertfordshire," say the proposals.

"Net expenditure on the service by HCC (excluding overheads provided) was £1m in 2016/17 and has been reduced progressively to less than half that level.

"In order to ensure the future sustainability of the service, we need to reduce or eliminate this net cost, become more commercially focused, and

transform the way it operates whilst maintaining the same, high quality offer to young people.

"A key part of this is the proposed migration of the service to a charitable status, outside the direct control of HCC."

The county council already has plans to transfer the running of its libraries to a public service mutual, Libraries for Life – which was set up by the council.

But the planned transfer of the libraries – expected to save the council around £500,000 a year – has been delayed as a result of the Covid pandemic.