Agenda item

To view all the supporting documents, including the Savings Proposals, the Cumulative Impact Assessment and the relevant Equality Impact Assessment forms, please access the web library by using this link – Supporting Documents

KEY DECISION

Following consideration of the officer report, appendices including individual and cumulative impact assessment and discussion the Executive:

a)    Considered the feedback on the public consultation set out in Appendix 8.

b)    Considered the comments from the five business sector engagement events set out in Appendix 8.

c)     Considered and endorsed the comments from Scrutiny Committee Corporate & Resources on the budget proposals.

d)    Noted the that a formal request has been submitted to DLUHC for Exceptional Financial Support in the form a Capitalisation Direction to balance the budget, an additional 5% in council tax (request subsequently refused) and £40m for the ‘re-sizing’ of the council and associated redundancy costs and that as part of this process there will an external assurance review by CIPFA.

e)    Noted that the conclusions of the Council’s Section 151 Officer (Chief Finance Officer) confirming the robustness of the budget estimates and the adequacy of the level of reserves, will be a separate report to Council.

f)      The Executive agreed the removal of savings proposals: CMS015 RNLI, CAP007 Crossing Patrols; SWL006 Democratic process; SWL007 Committee size; SWL008 Committee meeting locations; SWL012 Members allowances; and CAP -32 Reductions to highways maintenance. Resulting in a total change of £260,000.

g)    The Executive agreed the following updates/revisions:

Communities Service Area - wording and savings type amendments to: CMS021 overnight locking of Wellington, Blenheim and Vivary Parks; CMS026 Taunton Visitor Information Centre; and CMS041 Parish Ranger Scheme. Resulting in no financial changes.

Climate and Place Service Area – new savings: Contractual changes related to the guaranteed minimum annual tonnage for residual waste in Somerset to our Contractor (Viridor) or seeking alternative EfW disposal routes above the current minimum annual tonnage floor; and Funding of one Grade 10 post and one Grade 7 post using time-limited external Levelling up front grant provided by DHLUC to support us in delivering LUF schemes – resulting in a combined £243,000 saving, And: the removal of CAP004 Funding for Community Rail Partnership; a reduction in CAP027 transport policy costs; the deferral until 2025/26 of CAP032 reduction in highways maintenance and devolution of service (including removing savings regarding gully emptying, deferring savings regarding reducing reactive budgets for hedge trimming, noxious weeds treatment, gully emptying, ditches and grips and reduced planned grass-cutting; and a amendment of the title (wording only) of CAP010 to Make Savings from the Core Contract for Household Waste Recycling Centre. In total resulting in a savings reduction of £243,000.

Furthermore the Executive agreed to recommend to full Council approve:

Revenue Budget

a.    Note the conclusions of the Council’s Section 151 Officer (Chief Finance Officer) in his Section 25 report confirming the robustness of the budget estimates and the adequacy of the level of reserves for 2024/25 and his warning about the 2025/26 financial year.

b.    Approves the additional funding for pressures requirements set out in Appendix 6.

c.     Approves the savings and income generation plans outlined in Appendix 7, considering the detailed Equalities Impact Assessments

d.    Notes the MTFP Cumulative Impact Assessment in Appendix 15

e.    Approves the General Fund net revenue budget for 2024/25 of £601.775m and the individual service budgets for 2024/25 as outlined in Appendix 2.

f.      Notes that in order to balance the 2024/25 budget, that revenue spend will be capitalised in accordance with the Capitalisation Directive from DLUHC of £36.9m

g.    The delegation of any amendments within the final Government Financial Settlement and the final Business Rates amendments to the Executive Director of Resources and Corporate Services (Section 151 Officer) in consultation with the Leader of the Council. 

Reserves

a.      Notes that the level of General Reserves is maintained within the risk based assessment range of £30m minimum to £60m maximum level.

b.    Approves that £36.8m from the Medium-Term Financial Plan Support Reserve is used to help balance the 2024/25 budget.

c.     Notes the overall estimated position of Earmarked Reserves outlined in Table 14 and the proposed use of reserves detailed in Appendix 10 which includes the estimated use of Earmarked Reserves during the year.

Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)

a.    Note the forecast spending on the Dedicated Schools Grant is forecast to exceed the funding provided by government by £23.4m in 2024/25 and is projected to reach a cumulative deficit of £96.2m by 31 March 2026.

b.  Notes the overall Dedicated Schools Grant allocation of £533.3m for 2024/25 and breakdown by block as set out in Appendix 12.

Council Tax

a.   Approves the calculations for determining the Council Tax requirement for the year 2024/25 in accordance with the Local Government Finance Act 1992 as set out in the Council Tax Resolution in Appendix 16.

b.    Agree to continue the Council Tax precept of £14.65, included in the overall band D Council Tax for the shadow Somerset Rivers Authority (representing no increase). This results in a Council Tax Requirement of £3,058,900 for the Somerset Rivers Authority.

c.     Approves the Council increase the Council Tax for a band D property for Somerset Council, including the Somerset Rivers Authority Precept, by £82.14 for 2024/25, giving a band D Council Tax of £1,728.18 per year,

i. The general band D Council Tax by 2.99%, £49.22, the maximum permitted without a referendum; and

ii. The Adult Social Care Precept by 2.00%, £32.92.

d.    Approves a Special Expenses rate of £230,977 as detailed in Appendix 5.

e.    Approves the precept requirement of £361,071,003 (including Special Expenses Rate) £360,840,026 (excluding Special Expenses Rates).

f.      Approves the formal Council Tax resolution, in Appendix 16a, which incorporates the precepts of all the precepting bodies.

Note – all reference to appendices above relate to the Full Council papers for 20 February 2024.

The Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Governance and Communications, Cllr Bill Revans, invited the Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Resources and Performance, Cllr Liz Leyshon, to introduce the report.

The Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Resources and Performance introduced the report, highlighting: that the report sets out for the Executive consideration and recommendations to Council regarding the proposed Revenue Budget for 2024/25 and Council Tax setting based on implementing the Financial Strategy and avoiding the need to issue a Section 114 Report; summarised the published report Financial Distress in Local Authorities including national and local financial challenges and Local Authorities’ reliance on income from Council Tax to fund service delivery; that significant and on-going financial support from government will be required due to the cost of delivering services and inflationary costs; the national scale of work and engagement of the Leader of the Council to fully understand the financial challenges; the feedback and comments considered following the Scrutiny Committee - Corporate and Resources meeting on 2 February 2024; the transformation of the new Council into a leaner organisation; and the complexity of the information to be considered at full Council on 20 February 2024.

The Executive Director Resources and Corporate Services, Jason Vaughan, further added to the above points, highlighting: the changes to the published report following the announcement of the central government financial settlement, including the less than an inflationary increase in Public Health funding; thanked the Scrutiny Committees for the work through meetings and workshops; the impact of not being able to increase Council Tax beyond pre-set thresholds; the Section 25 statement and concern regarding the budget gap for 2025/26 which had now increased £104m, and that the size of the challenge going forward cannot be understated; the focus and actions taken to avoid issuing a Section 114 Report; the work of the Audit Committee to ‘sign off’ the predecessor Council accounts.

The Executive Director Public and Population Health, Professor Trudi Grant, further advised the Executive of the disappointing and worrying implications of receiving a below inflation Public Health grant.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Bill Revans, expressed his thanks and appreciation  and highlighted on-going work to deliver a sustainable Somerset Council.  The Leader further advised Executive Lead Members of the due regard to be taken to the cumulative impact assessments and the individual equalities impact assessments when considering savings proposals.

Cllr Revans further thanked the Scrutiny Committee - Corporate and Resources, for the work and valuable contribution throughout the budget setting process, and invited the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee – Corporate and Resources, Cllr Bob Filmer to comment on the process and recommendations.

The Chair, Scrutiny Committee – Corporate and Resources thanked Officers for their work; thanked Members for their engagement in the meetings and the workshop; thanked Executive members for their attendance at the Committee meeting 2 February 2024; and advised of the circulated addendum of recommendations for consideration.

The Chair, Scrutiny Committee – Communities, Cllr Gwil Wren, thanked the Community Services directorate for their work towards continuing services and expressed the concern for the long term financial future of the Council.

The Chair, Scrutiny Committee – Adults and Health, Cllr Gill Slocombe, commented on the positive and helpful Scrutiny process.

The Executive Director Community Services, Chris Hall and The Executive Director Climate and Place, Mickey Green, provided an update on the savings proposals. Points raised in relation to the Community Services service area included: wording and savings type amendments to: CMS021 overnight locking of Wellington, Blenheim and Vivary Parks; CMS026 Taunton Visitor Information Centre; and CMS041 Parish Ranger Scheme. Points raised in relation to the Climate and Place service Area included new savings: contractual changes related to the guaranteed minimum annual tonnage for residual waste in Somerset to our Contractor (Viridor) or seeking alternative EfW disposal routes above the current minimum annual tonnage floor; and Funding of one Grade 10 post and one Grade 7 post using time-limited external Levelling up front grant provided by DHLUC to support us in delivering LUF schemes; the removal of CAP004 Funding for Community Rail Partnership; a reduction in CAP027 transport policy costs; the deferral until 2025/26 of CAP032 reduction in highways maintenance and devolution of service (including removing savings regarding gully emptying, deferring savings regarding reducing reactive budgets for hedge trimming, noxious weeds treatment, gully emptying, ditches and grips and reduced planned grass-cutting); and a amendment of the title (wording only) of CAP010 to Make Savings from the Core Contract for Household Waste Recycling Centre.

Following consideration of the Scrutiny Committee recommendation, members comments and public consultation, the Deputy Leader and Leader Member for Resources and Performance, Cllr Liz Leyshon, proposed the following amendments, which were seconded by Cllr Bill Revans:

·       The creation of a reserve titled  ‘Devolution of Assets and Services’, to be created by combining existing relevant reserves to the value of £600k.

·       The removal of savings proposals CMS015 regarding the RNLI, CAP032 reductions to highways maintenance, CAP007 regarding the size of Councl committees, SWL010 reducing Scrutiny Committee task and finish group work SWL006 the proposed creation of a combined Audit and Governance Committee, SWL007 reducing committee sizes, SWL008 centralising the location of executive meetings and SWL012 the reduction of member special responsibility allowances.

These amendments were agreed by the Executive.

The Executive Director – Resources and Corporate Services, Jason Vaughan, advised the Executive of the total cost of the proposed amendments was £260K per annum.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Bill Revans, invited The Leader of the Opposition Cllr David Fothergill to speak on the budget proposals

The Leader of the Opposition , Cllr David Fothergill welcomed movement on the saving proposals and queried the legal risk in setting a balanced budget following correspondence with DLUHC. Cllr Fothergill requested that clarification be provided on the legal implications and advice to members in being able to set a budget without the Capitalisation Direction from DLUHC being approved.

The Interim Head of Legal, Jill Bryon, advised of the constant review work in addressing the situation, and undertook to provide advice to Members in writing ahead of the Full Council meeting on 20 February.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Bill Revans, highlighted that the Council had listened through feedback, workshops and consultation and found a way forward in a very difficult situation. The Leader proceeded to invite comments from other Members present, questions and points raised included: comparator Councils Council tax figures and the differences in services provided; the difficulties in undertaking a referendum to increase Council Tax and associated costs and risks; the pressure on services which discretionary but remain hugely valuable to residents and the future challenges to protect those services; gratitude to City, Town and Parish councils; highways maintenance savings; the residual waste contract and minimum tonnage risks; bus subsidy budget proposals and bus networks; the independent Scrutiny process and recommendations to Scrutiny; the importance of the scrutiny process; CCTV and contributions from City, Town and Parish Council and budget contributions in 2025/26; the difficult Adult Social Care budget savings; Bridgwater Carnival budget savings, the link to Somerset Council and tourism; the capitalisation directive, including the correspondence received from DLUHC, redundancy and the total cost; utilising the mobile library service as community hubs, statutory Library services and consultation with DCMS; Bus route 28 information; the reserves minimum position; the pathway to employment scheme; the increase in precepts for City, Town and Parish Councils and the variable increase in cost to residents across Somerset; and the need for national solution for Local Government funding.

The Executive Director – Resources and Corporate Services, Jason Vaughan, advised the Executive that Members must have regard to the report of the Chief Finance (Section 151) Officer, as to the robustness of the estimates made for the purposes of the calculations and the adequacy of the proposed financial reserves.

The Executive proceeded to vote on the recommendations as amended, which were agreed unanimously.????

Following consideration of the officer report, appendices including individual and cumulative impact assessment and discussion the Executive:

a)    Considered the feedback on the public consultation set out in Appendix 8.

b)    Considered the comments from the five business sector engagement events set out in Appendix 8.

c)     Considered and endorsed the comments from Scrutiny Committee Corporate & Resources on the budget proposals.

d)    Noted the that a formal request has been submitted to DLUHC for Exceptional Financial Support in the form a Capitalisation Direction to balance the budget, an additional 5% in council tax (request subsequently refused) and £40m for the ‘re-sizing’ of the council and associated redundancy costs and that as part of this process there will an external assurance review by CIPFA.

e)    Noted that the conclusions of the Council’s Section 151 Officer (Chief Finance Officer) confirming the robustness of the budget estimates and the adequacy of the level of reserves, will be a separate report to Council.

f)      The Executive agreed the removal of savings proposals:CMS015 regarding the RNLI, CAP032 reductions to highways maintenance, CAP007 regariding the size of Councl committees, SWL010 reducing Scrutiny Committee task and finish group work SWL006 the proposed creation of a combined Audit and Governance Committee, SWL007 reducing committee sizes, SWL008 centralising the location of executive meetings and SWL012 the reduction of member special responsibility allowances.

g)    The Executive agreed the following updates/revisions:

Communities Service Area - wording and savings type amendments to: CMS021 overnight locking of Wellington, Blenheim and Vivary Parks; CMS026 Taunton Visitor Information Centre; and CMS041 Parish Ranger Scheme. Resulting in no financial changes.

Climate and Place Service Area – new savings: Contractual changes related to the guaranteed minimum annual tonnage for residual waste in Somerset to our Contractor (Viridor) or seeking alternative EfW disposal routes above the current minimum annual tonnage floor; and Funding of one Grade 10 post and one Grade 7 post using time-limited external Levelling up front grant provided by DHLUC to support us in delivering LUF schemes – resulting in a combined £243,000 saving, And: the removal of CAP004 Funding for Community Rail Partnership; a reduction in CAP027 transport policy costs; the deferral until 2025/26 of CAP032 reduction in highways maintenance and devolution of service (including removing savings regarding gully emptying, deferring savings regarding reducing reactive budgets for hedge trimming, noxious weeds treatment, gully emptying, ditches and grips and reduced planned grass-cutting; and a amendment of the title (wording only) of CAP010 to Make Savings from the Core Contract for Household Waste Recycling Centre. In total resulting in a savings reduction of £243,000.

Furthermore the Executive agreed to recommend to full Council approve:

Revenue Budget

a.    Note the conclusions of the Council’s Section 151 Officer (Chief Finance Officer) in his Section 25 report confirming the robustness of the budget estimates and the adequacy of the level of reserves for 2024/25 and his warning about the 2025/26 financial year.

b.    Approves the additional funding for pressures requirements set out in Appendix 6.

c.     Approves the savings and income generation plans outlined in Appendix 7, considering the detailed Equalities Impact Assessments

d.    Notes the MTFP Cumulative Impact Assessment in Appendix 15

e.    Approves the General Fund net revenue budget for 2024/25 of £601.775m and the individual service budgets for 2024/25 as outlined in Appendix 2.

f.      Notes that in order to balance the 2024/25 budget, that revenue spend will be capitalised in accordance with the Capitalisation Directive from DLUHC of £36.9m

g.    The delegation of any amendments within the final Government Financial Settlement and the final Business Rates amendments to the Executive Director of Resources and Corporate Services (Section 151 Officer) in consultation with the Leader of the Council. 

Reserves

a.      Notes that the level of General Reserves is maintained within the risk based assessment range of £30m minimum to £60m maximum level.

b.    Approves that £36.8m from the Medium-Term Financial Plan Support Reserve is used to help balance the 2024/25 budget.

c.     Notes the overall estimated position of Earmarked Reserves outlined in Table 14 and the proposed use of reserves detailed in Appendix 10 which includes the estimated use of Earmarked Reserves during the year.

Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)

a.    Note the forecast spending on the Dedicated Schools Grant is forecast to exceed the funding provided by government by £23.4m in 2024/25 and is projected to reach a cumulative deficit of £96.2m by 31 March 2026.

b.  Notes the overall Dedicated Schools Grant allocation of £533.3m for 2024/25 and breakdown by block as set out in Appendix 12.

Council Tax

a.   Approves the calculations for determining the Council Tax requirement for the year 2024/25 in accordance with the Local Government Finance Act 1992 as set out in the Council Tax Resolution in Appendix 16.

b.    Agree to continue the Council Tax precept of £14.65, included in the overall band D Council Tax for the shadow Somerset Rivers Authority (representing no increase). This results in a Council Tax Requirement of £3,058,900 for the Somerset Rivers Authority.

c.     Approves the Council increase the Council Tax for a band D property for Somerset Council, including the Somerset Rivers Authority Precept, by £82.14 for 2024/25, giving a band D Council Tax of £1,728.18 per year,

i. The general band D Council Tax by 2.99%, £49.22, the maximum permitted without a referendum; and

ii. The Adult Social Care Precept by 2.00%, £32.92.

d.    Approves a Special Expenses rate of £230,977 as detailed in Appendix 5.

e.    Approves the precept requirement of £361,071,003 (including Special Expenses Rate) £360,840,026 (excluding Special Expenses Rates).

f.      Approves the formal Council Tax resolution, in Appendix 16a, which incorporates the precepts of all the precepting bodies.

Note – all reference to appendices above relate to the Full Council papers for 20 February 2024.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED: As set out in the officer report.???

REASON FOR DECISION: As set out in the officer report.?