Cambridgeshire budget, Stoke hires PwC, School funding gap, Falkirk TIF, New Homes Bonus

Municipal councils ‘lose under New Homes Bonus’
The New Homes Bonus is benefitting wealthy councils in the South East of England at the expense of more deprived areas, according to the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities. SIGOMA said that its members were set to lose more than £453m through implementation of the policy by 2015/16, while councils in the South East are set to gain £271m. North East councils will lose an average of £40 per head, with the figure £30 for authorities in the North West, it claimed.

Cambridgeshire asks residents for budget input
Cambridgeshire County Council is asking for residents to help it set its budget for 2015/16. Due to increased demand and inflation coupled with cuts in funding from central government, the council’s current business plan sets out the need to save £149.1m over the next five years, with £30.7m earmarked for next year. Residents will be surveyed online and face-to-face for their suggestions, and attitude to paying more council tax.

PwC hired to reduce Stoke’s spending
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has hired consultancy PricewaterhosueCoopers to help it deliver savings of up to £14m. The firm will be rewarded on a payment by results basis, receiving £1 for every £8 their proposals save the authority. PwC has identified savings of between £5.5m in two business plans prepared during an initial consultancy period.

Councils in £950m waste deal
Derby City and Derbyshire County Councils have signed an agreement with a joint venture to build and operate a waste treatment facility. The deal, worth £950m was signed with the Interserve and Shanks Group vehicle. The facility is expected to be completed by April 2017, when Shanks and Interserve will each inject £18m of subordinated debt into the special purpose vehicle.

Falkirk submits TIF business case
Falkirk Council has finalised the business case for its proposed tax incremental scheme, and will now submit it to the Scottish Government for approval. The business case says that the TIF could see £25.71m out of £43.1m invested through prudential borrowing. The council estimates that returns from business rates would see a cash surplus by year 25, which would be shared between the council and the Scottish Government.

Councils forced to plug school places funding gap
Councils are having to make cuts in building projects, school maintenance and other budgets in order to plug a black hole of £1bn in government funding for school places, according to the Local Government Association. The LGA asked councils if cash provided by the Department for Education had met the full cost of providing school places between 2011/12 and 2016/17. Some 77% of respondents said the money had not been enough.

Authorities urged to make savings on child care budgets
Councils with higher than average spending on children in care should examine whether they can reduce the amount, according to the Audit Commission.  A report by the commission found significant variation in the amount councils spend on each looked after child. In 2012/13, 21 councils spent less than £40,000 per child and 32 councils spent more than £60,000 per child. If higher spending councils had been able to reduce their spending to that of the remaining three quarters of councils in their comparator group, total spending would have reduced by £84 million, the commission said.