Council Officers are predicting a gap between the funding received from government and the costs of delivering our services, which means action has to be taken to balance our budget and protect Council jobs and services for the residents of West Dunbartonshire.
The anticipated funding gap for 2017/18 is £3.691m, although the final figure will not be known until December 15 when the Scottish Government will confirm funding allocations with local authorities.
The actions the Council is taking to close this gap are detailed within the report to Council. These actions range from redesigning services to increasing charges for Council services to the public and businesses and reducing budgets by prioritising the Council’s spending in the most important areas.
However, these options alone do not close the gap, so a list of savings options have also been put forward by officers for consideration. These savings would require Councillor approval to put into action. Nothing will happen with these options without a Council decision as part of the budget setting process for 2017/18. Discussions have also taken place with Joint Trades Unions, in line with our partnership working agreement.
While the report gave an indication of the change to the level of Council funding for the Health and Social Care Partnership, a report detailing the implications of that was submitted to the Integrated Joint Board meeting on 16 November.
The two Labour Councillors at the HSCP meeting put forward a Motion to reject Scottish Government cuts to public services which was defeated by 4 to 2 as the Leader of the Opposition and the Health Board Members supported the recommendations.
A copy of the Council Motion and a copy of the Motion to the HSCP meeting is below:
- Council Motion Item 11 West Dunbartonshire Council, Wednesday 26th October 2016 Long Term Financial Strategy Refresh & General Services and Housing Revenue Account Estimates Update 2017/18 to 2019/20
Council thanks officers for all the work in producing this report.
This Council notes the high degree of uncertainty relating to the budget process in that we will not know the detail of the UK revenue and capital allocations until 23 November 2016; therefore we will not know the detail of the Scottish Government resource allocation to Local Government and Health until 15 December 2016.
There are other uncertainties resulting from the fact that we have a minority government in the Scottish Parliament and all political opposition parties have expressed their opposition to the Scottish Government plans to use additional locally generated revenue to fund central government policy, which would see Council Tax payers in Band E, F, G, and H pay up to 22.5% more in Council Tax next year.
Council notes that 546 of these taxpayers will be in social rented housing, including 61 in new build properties. Opposition parties such as the Scottish Labour Party are opposed to the reduction of funding to Local Government Public Services and have publicly stated their opposition to planned cuts in funding.
Given the above the Council agrees to:
- Note the level of uncertainty regarding the budget setting process and agree to re-schedule the 2017/18 budget-setting Council meeting to 22nd February 2017;
- Note the refreshed strategy has developed estimates of the Councils funding position to 2019/20 and identifies cumulative anticipated revenue funding gaps within General Services of £3.691m for 2017/18; £7.110m for 2018/19; and £10.969m for 2019/20 – after adjusting for the impact of management adjustments of £1.267m;
- Note the position regarding the HRA projections to 2019/20;
- Approve the long term financial strategy, noting its assumptions in relation to Council Tax and approving the inflationary assumptions described at 4.12 and 4.13 of the report;
- Note the projected position for 2016/17 which shows a projected surplus of £1.077m after for adjusting for the in-year impact of the management adjustments.
- Note the projected year-end position regarding reserves and provisions; the position regarding the capital plan; and that the projected provision is subject to amendment as assumptions continue to be clarified and revised between now and Council in February 2017;
Council notes the Corporate Management Team savings options presented for members consideration and, due to the uncertainty around the settlement position and the variables highlighted in the strategy document, calls on the CMT to explore additional options for consideration by elected members to close the budget gap. The Council will progress with consultation in line with the report.
This administration has been consistent in its approach to invest in public infrastructure to improve the quality of public service provision, to improve our local environment and reduce energy consumption and waste, to improve our communities and help to grow our economy.
In line with this approach, the Administration will make the following investments to improve our public infrastructure:
- To continue to support local communities, the Council will explore options to replace the Community Centre at Westbridgend in Dumbarton.
- To improve our parks and open spaces, a further £250k of capital investment will be allocated for community improvements in Inler Park in Haldane, in Balloch. The Community Capital Fund has already earmarked £70k for this and this additional funding means that the Council investment would be £320 The improvements would be led by the Environmental Trust and the expectation is that they would seek external match-funding to maximise the benefits to the local community.
- The Environmental Trust is on site delivering a £230k environmental improvement project in Dalmuir on behalf of the Council. However, the current project does not extend to the flats in the area of Dalmuir Square. To address this, the Council agrees to transfer the £150k unallocated funding in the Councils Environmental Fund towards this boosting the investment total to £380k for Dalmuir.
- The Your Community initiative has been very successful in engaging with communities and the process of developing of the Community Led Action Plans for the 17 Community Council areas has started. This was boosted with a £1m capital investment this year to deliver the community action plans priorities and contribute to the Scottish Government target of involving communities in participative budget setting. As a result of feedback from officers involved in the process, Council agrees to commit £60K of revenue towards the Your Community initiative for 2016/17 from reserves; and the Administration will commit to providing a recurring revenue budget of £60k from 2017/18 when setting the Administration’s budget for 2017/18 in February 2017.
The Chief Executive is therefore requested to update the ten-year capital plan to reflect the additional investments identified above.
- HSCP MOTION – Item 6 Financial Report 2016/17
The Partnership notes that the Council has identified £2m to put into the social care budget but notes that the financial situation is still very challenging.
The Partnership further notes that the outstanding NHS savings for 2016/17 of £955k will now largely be covered by a one-off non-recurring allocation of £909k from NHSGGC.
This is simply a cut deferred, and there will be substantial cuts to services by the Health Board next year. This Partnership should not be starting life making cuts to services for some of the most vulnerable, including people with mental health problems, which the Scottish Government claim is a priority.
The Partnership does not accept any cuts to public services and we will not set a final budget until we know the scale of the Health Board’s cuts when they set their budget in June.
Therefore, the Partnership calls on the Scottish Government to fully fund public services such as West Dunbartonshire Council, the Health & Social Care Partnership, and NHSGG&C.
Given the above, the Partnership agrees the recommendations as amended below to:
Note that the revenue position is reporting an overspend of £160k as at 30 September. However, the services are needs led and the HSCP is concerned that the end of year overspend could be as much as £320k;
Note the management action on reducing cost pressures with the aim of bringing the revenue position back to financial balance;
Note that the Health Board has transferred £909k of non-recurring funds to offset against savings targets. However, as indicated above, this suggests that we will have larger savings to make in future;
Rejects the proposed savings options in Social Care for 2017/18 and rejects the cuts to public services and calls on the Scottish Government to fully fund West Dunbartonshire Council and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, rather than imposing draconian cuts year on year;
Agree that discussions continue with the Council regarding its contribution to the Partnership once the Scottish Government and Health Board have confirmed their public service cuts;
Welcomes the investment by the Partnership and the Council in implementing the Scottish Living Wage from October. However, the Partnership is concerned that not all social care workers will be entitled to the Living Wage;
The Partnership notes that the final set of savings options will come to the next HSCP meeting in March 2016 after the Council has set its budget, but considers that this should be delayed until June, after the Health Board has set its budget.
The Partnership notes that the NHS, Council and HSCP budgets are out of line with each other; and
As noted above, the Partnership is concerned that the Scottish Government allocations to Health are expected to be 7% lower than in 2016.
The Partnership notes with great concern that the proposed savings options will affect some of the most vulnerable in our society, for example, those with mental health problems, which the Scottish Government claims is a priority.
The Partnership notes that when HSCPs were first mooted by the Scottish Government, the Cabinet Secretary gave a commitment to fund them.
Therefore, the Partnership agrees to write to the Health Minister demanding that the Scottish Government honours its commitment to fund the HSCP.
Failing this commitment, the Partnership notes that the HSCP’s funding position is unsustainable going forward, especially in the light of our deprivation figures and our ageing population.
West Dunbartonshire Councillor Martin Rooney 