It used to be the case that the process of planning a council budget for the year ahead would only really come into sharp focus in the weeks either side of the Christmas break. The widely accepted reality today however, is that planning the next year’s budget is always the priority.
So while this week Councillors in Reading will begin to discuss the outline of a draft budget for the next financial year, it is the culmination of many hundreds of hours of work behind the scenes which started last Spring.
The task is not made any easier as we don’t yet know how much funding we will receive from Central Government for the year ahead. It’s a bit like heading out to do your Christmas shopping, without knowing how much money you have in your bank account.
The timing of the Provisional Local Government Settlement makes an already difficult job unnecessarily harder. Funding reform and a move away from one-year settlements for local councils is long overdue, and hopefully not too far away on the horizon given the positive noises by the new Government on multi-year settlements. This would at least allow us to plan properly for the longer term, not just for the year ahead.
The budget story in Reading is not a new one and is not unique to us. Tough times mean more people approach their local Council for help. Combined with the increased costs of delivering this essential support, the pressure on our budget is significant.
In children’s social care, the costs of looking after vulnerable children and young people has soared and is our biggest concern. Again, there have been positive noises from Government on clamping down on the blatant profiteering by private companies who provide child protection placements at the expense of local councils and, ultimately, the tax payer. We are currently predicting a £5.7 million budget pressure in our children’s services – that is £5.7 million in costs over and above what was budgeted for.
The continued high cost-of-living, combined with high private rental costs in Reading, means we now provide emergency accommodation to 174 families and individuals. This is up from 71 just over two years ago, with an associated £1.2 million pressure.
And in Adult Social Care, we are seeing more residents coming through the system post-pandemic. For the first half of this financial year, this amounts additional 66 residents approaching the Council for support, or a 4% increase. The estimated budget pressure stands at £1.4 million.
Caring for vulnerable adults and children, and providing shelter for residents who find themselves homeless, are statutory duties for councils. That means we have to provide them by law. For Council staff delivering these essential services however, they are much more than just obligations. Local councils exist in order to help residents who need support after all, and there is a human story behind all of those approaches for help. Without fundamental change to how local authorities are funded however, the tension between the cost of providing these essential statutory services and the cost of paying for universal services, which are those all of us receive from the local council, becomes ever more unsustainable.
Ahead of setting a final budget for next year, Council officers in Reading are working hard behind the scenes on a variety of projects aimed at managing demand levels and reducing costs. The concern – and as I say this is the case for most councils, not just Reading – is that if the increase in demand-led services continues, all we are really doing is kicking the problem into the long grass and biding for time before the impact of new Government policies can take effect.
