Agenda item

Revenue Budget 2019/20

Minutes:

The Service Lead Finance outlined details of the Revenue Budget for 2019/20 and the decisions required for the Council to achieve a balanced budget for the year ahead.

 

2019/20 was expected to be another difficult year financially for the Council, with a continued reduction in Government’s Revenue Support Grant to £6m next year, as well as increased demand for Council services.  The Medium Term Financial Strategy had sought to offset these funding reductions with increased commercial income and this approach had been successful.  The funding summary at Table 1 of the report demonstrated that the revenue budget was currently balanced for each of following three years to 2022.

 

They key features of the budget were summarised.  Members noted that the Council was facing budget pressures in areas such as temporary accommodation, schools PFI, home to school transport and adult social care which had consistently reported in year overspends.  The proposals set out therefore made provision for growth to be made in the base budgets for these areas to more realistically reflect the demand and cost of key services. 

 

The Council’s element of the Council Tax was proposed to rise by 2.8% for the year which equated to an increase of £35.09 for a Band D property.  The Police and Fire precepts had not yet been set but were expected to rise by 13.2% and 2.99% respectively.  Members were advised that the increase in Council Tax was expected the lowest when compared with other Berkshire local authorities.

 

A total of £12.8m of savings had been identified for the coming year, as detailed in Appendix A to the report, and Members discussed the impact these could have on services.  The Officer explained that savings of this scale had been found each year since 2010 and the majority of savings this year were efficiencies and commercial income rather than service reductions.  It was increasingly difficult to identify such savings, however, they were necessary as the Revenue Support Grant had been reduced by circa £50m in recent years and all local authorities were facing rising demand and cost pressures each year.  The reviews of major contracts was cited as an area where Slough had successfully identified savings, for example the leisure contract which in future would a net revenue benefit back to the Council from the provider.

 

(Councillor Sandhu joined the meeting)

 

The Committee discussed the £8.1m of growth in the budget which included a mixture of contractual increases, such as the £1.5m on the waste contract; demand pressures, particularly in adult social care and for Slough Children’s Service Trust; and governance such as the creation of a Brexit reserve and an increase in the training budget.  The were also a number of service improvements proposed such as funding for the deep clean of the town centre and street homelessness initiatives.  Members particularly discussed the increases for Slough Children’s Services Trust (SCST) and the waste contract which was due to rising costs nationally.  In response to a question about SCST, it was noted that the Trust had a liability to the Council of circa £4m due to be paid on termination.  The organisation was currently in deficit which meant that sum was a revenue risk to the Council.  A recovery plan was being put in place by the Trust.

 

At the conclusion of the discussion, the Revenue Budget was noted.

 

Resolved –  That details of the Revenue Budget 201/20, as set out in the report, be noted.

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