Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Cost of Living

Continued reduction in Government funding for the Council, coupled with rising inflation and cost pressures on our services means that the Council is projecting a budget deficit of approximately £40m by 2025/26. This report presents an overview of the Council’s financial position and our plan for providing financial stability and resilience for the local authority in a volatile wider environment.

This report sets out our assumptions and our understanding of how Government policy will impact our funding and spending over the coming years including updates from the Autumn / Winter 2022 spending review and the Local Government Finance Settlement that allocates funding to each local authority.  The recent draft financial settlement for 2023/24 provided an increase in ‘Core Spending Power’ (funding available for local authority services, which is predicated on a combination of government grants and increasing Council Tax and locally retained Business Rates) of 9.2% across England.  In Camden approximately 28% of the increase in ‘Core Spending Power’ relates to an assumed increase in Council Tax of 4.99%. Camden’s specific core spending allocation was lower than the national average and the fourth lowest in London at 8.2%.  This is against general inflation of 10.1% and ongoing demographic pressures in a number of services especially adult and children’s social care.

The report sets out our proposals for how we will change our organisation and our services to operate within our expected budgets in the medium term. These proposals incorporate outcomes-focused change, a focus on long-term change for improvement for the Council, and a continuing drive for the best and most efficient services. These proposals are detailed at Appendix 1.

This report also sets out how we will invest our resources and direct our services to support our ambitions for Camden set out in We Make Camden – our community vision for Camden as a fairer, more equal, more just and more sustainable Borough. This includes how we are investing resources to support families and households through the cost of living crisis, to address the harm of poverty and to support families to have economic security. It shows how we are continuing to play our part in climate justice and supporting Camden’s transition to be a low-carbon community. It shows how we are continuing to invest to give children and families the best start, and how we are investing to provide person-centred care for people with health and complex needs – and how we are working in our neighbourhoods to keep people healthy and well.

Some of our proposals for achieving financial stability will have an impact on staff, on residents and on the way that services are delivered. All proposals have been considered individually for their potential impact on residents as part of our commitment to equity. There is an overarching equalities impact assessment for this financial strategy included in this report. For those proposals that require consultation and/or equality impact assessments to be considered, whilst the associated budget reductions are being decided now, the final decisions on how or whether to implement those specific savings will be made at a later date through delegation to relevant Directors or through a further decision by Cabinet. The  findings of the relevant equality impact assessments will be considered at this time and will inform the decision on whether to implement those specific savings. There are also some proposals that are ready for immediate implementation that do not require consultation and/or equality impact assessments. The decision sought for each proposal is set out in Appendix 1.

This report also provides an update on:

·       Reserves and balances position including planned use

·       2023/24 budget setting considerations

·       Additions to the General Fund Capital Programme

·       Recommended Fees & Charges for 2023/24

Consideration was given to the report of Cabinet Member for Finance and Cost of Living, which was introduced by Daniel Omisore, Director of Finance, and he along with Councillor Meric Apak, Cabinet Member Better Homes and Glendine Shepherd, Director of Housing, gave the following key responses to questions:

·       Part of the proposed savings proposals for the HRA related to the temporary removal of some of the spring clean budget, which would be reinstated at the end of the Chalcots Estates project. Also, the Better Homes works programme was still being taken forward.

·       The resources being used to help tackle rough sleeping and homelessness were fully committed, the only area where they were underspent related to the budget allocated to compensate private rented sector landlords to take homeless people and take households out of temporary accommodation as the market had dried up, so it was felt that the underspend should be put back to the centre to reduce the overall budget in line with recent spending.

·       Camden always sought to engage and support rough sleepers so that they were offered routes off the streets, however not everyone living on the street wished to be helped in that way. 

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.