Agenda item

Council was informed that the Executive Board, at its meeting held on the 5^th February, 2018 (minute 5 refers) had considered the Revenue Budget Strategy 2018/19 to 2020/21 and had made a number of recommendations, as detailed within the report of the Director of Corporate Services, for consideration by Council.

Council received a presentation by the Executive Board Member for Resources, on behalf of the Executive Board, in which he set out the background to the budget proposals being presented for Council’s consideration. 

He advised that the final settlement received from Welsh Government on the 20^th December 2017 had been more favourable and supportive of Local Government than originally anticipated which meant that it had been possible to revisit some of the proposals within the original Budget and consider further options, including taking account of the latest pay offer. However, Welsh Government had only been able to provide figures at Authority level for one year, which was a restriction in terms of medium term forecasting within the Medium Term Financial plan.

He highlighted some of the salient points of the settlement the full details of which were referred to in the circulated report. On an all Wales basis the funding for Local Government had increased by 0.2%, with Carmarthenshire in line with the average. The final settlement had given the Authority a further £1.48m on the provisional settlement. This had come with extra responsibility, however, which included the increasing of capital limits for residential care and targeted relief support for small businesses, and these would be pass ported to those services. The settlement had also included an additional £399k for homelessness prevention. 

He advised that one of the most significant validations on the budget this year related to the pay award offer made by the negotiating body for employers, which gave a 2% pay award plus the bottom loading of the lower pay scales. For Carmarthenshire County Council, this resulted in a bottom pay point of £8.68 from April 2018, an increase of 8.98%, increasing to £9.18 in April 2019 a further increase of 5.76%. The pay offer did not apply to teachers who were covered by separate national pay arrangements which had been provided at 2% from September 2018.

Reference was made to the Authority’s politically balanced Pay Policy Advisory Panel and one of the recommendations of that panel, which would be presented to County Council for consideration on the 7^th March 2018, would be to pay a low pay supplement to staff currently on spinal point 9 and 10, so that these staff received the equivalent of £8.75, which was the recommended Foundation Living Wage (outside of London). In addition, although the pay negotiations were still ongoing, it was being recommended that the 2% pay increase to all non-teaching staff from 1 April 2018 be implemented in advance of final agreement being reached.

The Executive Board Member commented that although the three year budget strategy proposals adopted in February 2017 had assumed no schools protection for 2018-19, Executive Board colleagues had been very conscious of the need to support schools wherever possible whilst balancing the impact on the other departments. As a consequence of the additional support Welsh Government had provided as part of the settlement it had been possible, once again, to protect schools and not reduce their budgets and schools delegated budget for next year would be held at £108.7m. To support schools further it was proposed to establish a ‘schools development fund’ which would operate on a similar basis to the Council’s development fund. This would give schools direct access to an ‘invest to save fund’ and enable them to have up front funding for cost efficiency projects.

The Executive Board Member also referred to the widespread consultation undertaken on the budget which had provided significant feedback on the original proposals put forward.  Accordingly, he recommended that in finalising the budget the following adjustments be made to the Budget Strategy, which took account of the consultation process and responded to the feedback from the proposals that were not supported and had a negative average index score:

·         the reduction in budget of £50k that was proposed for Inclusion Services be removed. This proposal had a negative index score of -0.78 and was the least supported proposal; 

·         That the Care and Support Day Services proposal be revisited - this would reduce the efficiencies proposed by £50k in 2018/19 and £25k 2019/20;

·         In response to the concerns from service users the Respite Centre proposal be reviewed and the department be asked to give further consideration to the service provision options. This would mean a reversal in budget of £200k in both 2018/19 and 2019/20;   

·         That the proposed Schools development fund be set at £0.5m. This would critically strengthen the opportunities for the Schools Efficiency officer to work with all schools identifying effective ways to deliver the service.

Adopting these proposals would, he considered, present a fair and balanced budget to County Council, which responded to the major concerns fed back from the consultation. In conclusion, he thanked the public for responding so positively to the consultation and commended the hard work of the Chief Executive, Director of Corporate Services and all officers involved in the budget process for their efforts in helping to sustain the Council’s performance and delivery of services at reasonable cost to the taxpayer. He thereupon moved the recommendations of the Executive Board in respect of the Budget Strategy 2018/19, the Council Tax increase of 4.45% and approval of the medium term financial plan as a basis for the future years financial planning.  The proposal was duly seconded.

Following a debate it was

RESOLVED

6.1 that the Budget Strategy for 2018/19 subject to the following amendments:-

·                The proposed reduction of £50k in the budget for Inclusion services be removed;

·              The proposal for the Care and Support Day Services be revisited resulting in a reduction in the proposed efficiencies of £50k for 2018/19 and a further £25k for 2019/20;

·              The Respite Centre proposal be reviewed and the department give further consideration to service provision options resulting in a reversal in budget of £200k in 2018/19 and £200k in 2019/20;

6.2      That the Band D council Tax for 2018/19 be set at £1,196.60 (an increase of 4.45% for 2018-2019);

6.3That a School Development Fund of £0.5m be established from the “one-off” funding made available in 2018-19 and it be operated on a similar basis to the General Development Fund;

6.4That the allocation of the £148k one-off funding balance identified in paragraph 3.23 and the £77k identified in paragraph 7.1 of the report be utilised in full to support the proposed amendments and proposals detailed above;

6.5That the provisional medium term financial plan be approved as a basis for future years planning;

6.6        That a 2% pay increase be paid to all non-teaching staff from 1^st April 2018. This in advance of conclusion of national pay agreements. Any adjustments in light of those final agreements to be made subsequently.