Minutes:
I present this prudent, forward-looking, and compassionate Budget to the Council together with the circulated amended page that does not change the figures but better represents our Climate Emergency endeavours.
This is the first Budget that the Liberal Democrats have proposed for many years and is probably the most challenging budget process this Council has ever experienced. With inflation at over 10%, rising demand for services, shortfalls in anticipated income and now higher interest rates, we have had to endure a financial storm of tropical intensity.
The unprecedented financial challenges have obliged us to take difficult decisions to ensure the council’s financial viability. I am pleased to say that we did not shy away from those tough decisions and as a result of taking them we have been able to eliminate the ongoing shortfall we inherited of £2.3m and have now set a balanced budget for 2023-24 that plans for the future and leaves the Council’s finances in a better state than we found them almost a year ago.
Before I turn to some of the details of the Budget, I would like to thank my Executive and our Corporate Leadership Team for the immense work they have put into this Budget. We began preparation in May when we took over the administration and we have had to go through three major reviews of our Capital Programme to arrive at this balanced budget.
I would also like to thank the cross-party Community and Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee which has been considering and commenting on our proposals since late summer.
Moving to the key features of our Budget submission. Our Budget proposals include much needed, substantial investment in our vital services totalling £15m. £6.3m is for Children’s Services and £3.6m is for Adult Social Care. In addition, we have had to provide a staggering sum to cover the costs of inflation of just under £11m, which is £3m more than provided for in this current year. To help Councillors, you will find this set out on pages 59 and 60 of the MTFP.
The costs of investing in services and providing for inflation are funded in part by finding just short of £12m, primarily achieved through over £10m of cost reductions and some new income. This is the furthest this Council has had to go in many years in finding savings and possibly ever but is wholly necessary to meet the unavoidable financial pressures we face. Our efficiencies programme is more than double the £5.1m proposed last year and more than 60% of the total of the last four years’ proposed savings.
As many previous Council leaders have said “we get very little from central government,” my predecessors have complained that Wokingham is the poorest funded Unitary Authority per head of population in the country and unfortunately their government allows this sorry state to continue. This year we received a meagre £1.8 million more from the government at a time when we have had additional challenges of increased funding required for necessary statutory services and inflation totalling £26m. Wokingham receives an incomprehensible £30m per year less than if we were funded in the same way as the average unitary authority.
This situation must not continue. Something seriously needs to change for us to get a fairer deal for the residents of Wokingham Borough. We have lobbied Cabinet Ministers to present our case for more money from the government. But sadly, the government seems not to be listening. I am not alone in asking for more money, I know of council leaders from all over the country from all parties including the Conservatives who are complaining about being starved of cash by this government.
We continue to work to reduce the number of agency staff working at the council. The previous administration started to try to address this issue which is of course difficult as many agency staff work in adult social care and children’s services areas where we have significant statutory responsibilities. If this was an easy issue to resolve, I am sure the previous administrations would not have struggled to contain agency spending in the way that they did for quite a few years. We are confident that we will be able to make savings in this area in the coming years.
We have been hearing from the opposition that if we had opted for elections every four years instead of three out of four there would be a saving to the council of £300,000. A bit of a red herring because there would have been no saving until the elections of 2025, 2027 and 2028. And the saving would then not be £300,000 a year, but a quarter of that sum.
An illustration of our responsible financial management is the significant financial contribution and ongoing commitment towards addressing the deficit associated with rising Education, Health and Care plans. An area known as Dedicated Schools Grant, where a deficit has been allowed to grow over the past four or five years under the previous administration and has now reached a magnitude of alarming proportions. This financial contribution, together with an enhanced focus by the Council’s leadership will ensure we get on top of this and avoid the Council sleep walking into a serious financial crisis.
Our Capital Programme for next year of just over £100m both addresses the £14m funding gap presented in last year’s MTFP and delivers significant much needed capital investment in our community. This is detailed on pages 82-85 of the MTFP and includes investment in housing, investment in regeneration, investment in roads and transport and includes funding for a dementia care home.
As I have said before we have had to make some difficult and tough decisions. Increasing the Council Tax by 4.99% is one of those decisions. This has been forced on us by the government – which has made it clear that it expects councils to do this as part of its budget package. It’s a pretty well-known fact that the majority of councils across the country, Lib Dem, Independent, Conservative or Labour run councils will increase Council Tax by the maximum allowed by the government. By the way… this is also what the Conservatives have done here in Wokingham for many years. Of this 4.99% increase 2% will be going towards the increased costs of Adult Social care which David Hare will talk about and 1% towards sorting out the problem left by the previous administration in our special educational needs funding.
The overall Budget proposal significantly enhances the financial resilience of the Council, which has been achieved in the most challenging financial landscape and demonstrates that we hold financial responsibility amongst our highest of priorities. This Budget invests in our community where help is needed, achieved through tenacious financial management to control, and reduce spend and making difficult decisions where required. It also leaves us with an improved General Fund Balance of £9.3m at the end of next year (as shown on page 10) and we will look to further strengthen this going forward.
Financial rigour, financial resilience and financial responsibility is the hallmark of this Budget, to ensure we are in the best possible position to support those most in need. Targeting our limited resources on those who are struggling is something we regard as the right thing to do, especially in hard times.
Madam Mayor, I commend this prudent, forward-looking, and compassionate Budget to the Council together with the circulated amended page that does not changes the figures but better represents our climate emergency endeavours.