• Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • LATIF
  • Conferences
  • Dashboard
  • Edit My Profile
  • Log In
  • Logout
  • Register
  • Edit this post

Room 151

  • 151 BRIEF

    What's New?

  • Slough welcomes commitment that Office for Local Government ‘will not be a burden’

    June 30, 2022

  • Homes England agrees strategic partnership with two authorities

    June 29, 2022

  • Soaring inflation and pay pressures to add £3.6bn to council budgets

    June 28, 2022

  • Underfunded social care reforms could ‘exacerbate workforce pressures’

    June 27, 2022

  • Nottingham City Council leader labels proposed intervention as ‘disappointing’

    June 27, 2022

  • Government preparing to intervene in Nottingham City Council

    June 23, 2022

  • Treasury
  • Technical
  • Funding
  • Resources
  • LGPS
  • Development
  • 151 News
  • Blogs
    • David Green
    • Agent 151
    • Dan Bates
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Sheen
    • James Bevan
    • Steve Bishop
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O’Donnell
    • Jackie Shute
  • Interviews
  • Briefs

‘Core offer’ not enough to reduce county’s budget gap

0
  • by Colin Marrs
  • in 151 News · Resources
  • — 9 Jul, 2019

A county council which last year decided to cut its service provision to a bare minimum says it will still run out of money without extra funding from central government.

In August, East Sussex County Council voted to reduce services to the bare minimum required by law – what it dubbed a “core offer” – in an attempt to balance its books.

However, in papers set to be considered by the council’s cabinet next week, the council’s chief executive Becky Shaw says that the move is only likely to reduce the expected cumulative budget deficit in 2022/23 from £34.4m to £27.2m.

Shaw said: “Moving to the core offer will contribute further savings in the next two years, but these will not meet the shortfall in funding we anticipate if no additional money is available from the Government.

“This may mean members face some extremely challenging choices when setting the budget if the Government cannot be persuaded to continue the one-off funding we have received in recent years in the short term and does not make long term sustainable funding available to local government.”

The report said that savings made so far have led to “significant impacts” on community based adult social care services, assessment and care management staffing levels, family centres, youth services, libraries and cultural services and the amount spent on the highways network and the public realm.

“The continued pressure on budgets in the future means that, despite continuing commitment to maximise efficiency and generate income, services will continue to be concentrated on those in most urgent need and a comprehensive offer of universal services to all residents will not be maintained,” Shaw said.

The latest update to the authority’s medium term financial plan assumes that government funding will fall by £1.1m up to 2022/23.

Over the same period, projected inflation, demographic and service pressures costs are expected to raise costs by £60.6m.

The report said: “Increased council tax receipts are forecast to bring £27.3m additional funding, but this still leaves a shortfall in spending power of £34.4m; the current forecast savings requirement.”

Shaw voiced worries about the lack of certainty about future government funding and the current approach of making a series of short-term, one-off funding announcements to councils.

She said: “Any growth in the council’s resources will therefore need to come from either local council tax or business rates.”

The council is planning to directly lobby ministers and government departments and indirectly through local MPs, partners and stakeholders.

However, Smith admitted: “The anticipated delay in the spending review means that the best outcome we can expect for next year is a continuation of the one-off funding we received in the last budget round as a minimum, which we will ask to be uplifted to reflect our real pressures.”

Get the Room 151 Newsletter

Room151 Conferences & Events

Share

You may also like...

  • Don’t let council-owned companies spin out of control 30th Jun, 2021
  • Councils ‘becoming more involved in direct delivery of housing’ 28th Feb, 2022
  • Impact Awards: Councils can make ‘game-changing’ difference to carbon management 22nd Apr, 2021
  • Impact Awards: Finance helps launch school meals company and support business during lockdown 1st Apr, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • 151 BRIEFS – WHAT’s NEW?

    • Homes England agrees strategic partnership with two authorities
    • Soaring inflation and pay pressures to add £3.6bn to council budgets
    • Underfunded social care reforms could ‘exacerbate workforce pressures’
    • Nottingham City Council leader labels proposed intervention as ‘disappointing’
    • Government preparing to intervene in Nottingham City Council
  • Room151’s LGPS Roundtables

    Biodiversity
    Valuations & Risk
    LGPS Women

  • Room151’s LGPS Roundtables

    Biodiversity
    LGPS Women
    Valuations & Risk
  • Latest tweets

    Room151 18 hours ago

    Hillier confirmed as keynote speaker for LATIF/FDs’ Summit: Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, has been confirmed as a keynote speaker for Room151’s combined Local Authority Treasurers Investment Forum (LATIF) and FDs Summit. The… dlvr.it/ST70F7 pic.twitter.com/hxV676Iley

    Room151 18 hours ago

    Councils’ funding at risk due to ‘undercounting’ in census data: Population estimates in London and Manchester may have been significantly underestimated in the 2021 census potentially threatening government funding for frontline services in these… dlvr.it/ST707J pic.twitter.com/VncIyaXa01

    Room151 3 days ago

    Gove at LGA: councils to receive two-year financial settlement: Michael Gove has announced that councils will receive a two-year financial settlement from next year to provide authorities with “financial certainty” and allow them to plan ahead. The… dlvr.it/ST0kSV pic.twitter.com/wxL3UM4sGO

    Room151 3 days ago

    LGPS valuations: the digital journey: Rob Bilton explains how technology is helping to deliver one of the most complex data exercises in the world of public sector pensions. The 2022 valuations for LGPS funds in[...] dlvr.it/ST0kMq pic.twitter.com/VxjSPC2Uvo

    Room151 7 days ago

    Conrad Hall: ‘more sophisticated’ regulation needed for local government: The chair of the CIPFA/LASAAC Code Board has questioned the sophistication of financial regulation in local government and the continuing focus of the Department for Levelling Up,… dlvr.it/SSnPBV pic.twitter.com/G5d7JCWF8c

    Room151 1 week ago

    Slough Council approves plans to restructure finance department: Slough Borough Council has approved plans to restructure its finance department to enhance capacity and capability and to address a “significant weakness” in the function. The local… dlvr.it/SSf8DG pic.twitter.com/l5lmyHmkBg

  • Register to become a Room151 user

  • Previous story LGPS pool announces resignation of chief executive
  • Next story CIPFA backs alternative tool for measuring councils’ financial resilience

© Copyright 2022 Room 151. Typegrid Theme by WPBandit.

0 shares