Agenda item

Councillor Gerrish will update the meeting on:

• Budget Update to include impact of Adult and Social Care
• Cost of Elections for Parish Councils

Councillor Charles Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency, updated the meeting on the Council budget 2018/19.

He said that 2017/18 had been a difficult year. The pressures on Adult Care and Children’s Services had been even greater than anticipated; 80% of the overall revenue budget was now spent on these two services. The budget for 2018/19 therefore responds to that challenge, and identifies solutions to several long-standing issues that we have identified.

Essential for this has been a major rebasing review which recognises some of the pressures we have had across all Council services. Additional resources have been provided for Adult Care and Children’s services totalling an extra £7m, representing one of the biggest uplifts in cash terms for these services in many years. These increases will ensure that we can continue to provide high-quality services to the most vulnerable of our residents, while recognising the pressures the services encounter. At the same time we continue to work to identify further savings, to increase efficiency and generate new income opportunities.

The Medium Term Financial Strategy agreed by the Council in the autumn has outlined actions to ensure that we reduce the revenue budget, which, as we all know, has to be balanced. It provides a proper budget for the next twelve months, indicative information for the following year, and basic indications for the three years thereafter.

The Efficiency Strategy approved in November will enable one-off costs of structural change to be funded from capital receipts. However, it should be noted that much of those receipts will be achieved through working with our property company, thereby ensuring that assets ultimately remain within the Council’s control. The vast majority of savings continue to come from increased innovation, efficiency and new sources of income.

However, given the scale of the challenges the Council faces, we recognise that it is no longer possible to avoid some impact on staffing. Councillors and unions have already been briefed on the process, and changes will be handled properly and carefully, with opportunities for voluntary redundancy considered first and foremost. Overall, it seems likely to us that there will be a 15% reduction in our total staffing, with the most significant savings resulting from a review of management structures. Such changes are relatively common within local government, and this has allowed us to learn from experience of other authorities who may have encountered that pressures that we have now slightly earlier. Whilst the process won’t be easy, and we don’t approach it lightly, it is necessary to ensure that the Council becomes sustainable for the future, and it is only by taking these decisions that we can protect the most vulnerable and continue to invest in frontline services.

We are providing £3.9m extra for Adult Care Services, together with an extra £460,000 that Government have given us to deal with the pressures we face. The Children’s Care budget has been uplifted by £3.1m, which includes additional support for those with special educational needs.

The Schools’ budget, which is determined by a national funding formula and goes directly to schools, has increased by approximately £3.7m this year.

Council has agreed to exempt care leavers up to the age of 25 from Council Tax, and we are implementing a new discretionary 25% Council Tax discount for foster carers.

An additional £20,000 has been put into the base budget to continue to counter the problems we are experiencing with gulls, and we have ensured that support for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme is now built into the base budget for the first time. Children’s Centre services are being protected, and we are working with local schools and communities to expand the use of the premises. We continue to provide £1m a year to support buses and look forward to the outcome of the Western England Transport Review due later this year.

As far as the capital programme is concerned, there is significant national and regional investment in the Bath and Somer Valley enterprise zones. Some £19m is due to go on road and transport projects over the next two years, including an extra £3.1m this year for highway maintenance. We are continuing with the modernisation of the Bath and Keynsham leisure centres, Keynsham receiving some additional fill funding in response to feedback from residents.

There will be £3m a year to support affordable housing projects; we expect that £4.2m will have been provided for affordable housing by the end of this year. Further funding will be provided for superfast broadband across the district, and capital to support the public realm and Town Park in Midsomer Norton. The transfer of Midsomer Norton Town Hall to the Town Council and its associated charities is being finalised. £18m will be provided for school buildings, £3m to support the Modern Libraries programme and further funding for the refurbishment of Lewis House. As staff levels are reduced, space in Lewis House will be let out to generate income. In excess of £1m had been received from the West of England Combined Authority. By taking the decisions that are necessary, the Council can continue to invest in the things that are important to residents.

£1.5m has been allocated to revenue budget contingency against any unanticipated pressures during the year. He said that he would rather reform services and seek new sources of income than make deeper cuts. Capital funding would be provided for the Council’s housing company and funding to enable new commercial property acquisition. He believed this would be prudent, because it enabled the Council to diversify its portfolio to generate new revenue in line with Government guidelines, which can be used to support frontline services. Though investment clearly has an impact on the Council’s borrowing, the Council will only borrow when the rate of return outweighs the cost of borrowing. This is prudent and will benefit future generations and help the Council to become self-sufficient in future years, which is its long-term objective. The Council will continue to fight to secure its fair share of national investment as we work towards making B&NES financially self-sufficient. That way we can have greater local flexibility to invest in our own priorities. We have made some progress in this regard, through a combination of additional commercial income, our heritage estate, new property investment, the housing company and changes to business rates. However, we want to go further, so he and the Leader of the Council had met the Local Government Minister to outline our request for action to help us address the current Government financial constraints. We suggested a Use Class Order that would make the owners of large-scale, dedicated student accommodation subject to a level of business rates in place of their current exemption, and the power for the Council to impose a local tourism levy. If the power to introduce a tourism levy were granted to the Council, there would be a consultation with guesthouses and hotels about the most efficient way of doing this. It is estimated that such a levy would generate in excess of £1m per annum. We also suggested full cost recovery of planning fees and the removal of Non-Domestic Rate exemption for empty listed buildings. It is not right that if you own a business and have an empty building outside the City, you pay a business rate, but if you are in the City and have a listed building, you do not and we have suggested a change in legislation. We have been invited to submit these proposals to the Government fair funding review.

We have decided on a level of Council Tax that is needed for a balanced budget, while protecting the majority of frontline services and putting in additional investment for the most vulnerable. At the same time, we are mindful of the fact that inflation over the past year has continued to outstrip average wages, and that any additional Council Tax adds to the pressure faced by all residents, particularly those on the lowest pay. That is why we chose not to seek the highest possible level of increase that we were empowered to do. We therefore chose a Council Tax rise of only 1.95%, in addition to the 3% precept for Adult Social Care, whereas we could have gone as high as 3%. We believe that represents a balanced approach

Councillor Gerrish invited questions from delegates.

A delegate asked about the decision not to reimburse parishes for the costs of parish elections. Councillor Gerrish explained that this only applied to parish by-elections, and not to the 4-yearly whole parish council elections, and that there were some exemptions for parish by-elections. Andrew Orme, Chair of Freshford PC, asked whether parishes could be advised of the cost of a by-election for budgeting purposes. Councillor Gerrish replied that the cost could vary considerably, because the number of polling stations in parishes varied. The largest element of the cost was the staffing of polling stations. In addition there was the cost of sending polling information to every household. He knew that in his own parish a single-ward by-election cost about £3,000. Councillor Myers said that he thought it should be possible to calculate an indicative cost. He would have enquiries made about this.

A delegate asked whether the West of England transport review would consider powers for councils to franchise buses. Councillor Gerrish said that was one of the options being considered.

The Chair thanked Councillor Gerrish for the update.