4
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED
4.1
Background information relating to the options considered is
included in the report.
5
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Basis of Draft Budget
Proposals
5.1
At its meeting on 14 December 2021, the Executive considered the
expected overall position facing the Council in setting a budget
for 2022/23. At the time the Executive agenda was published, the
Provisional Local Government Financial Settlement had not been
announced. The budget proposals were therefore based on high level
information included in the Government’s 2021 Spending Review
(SR21) which was published on 27 October 2021 alongside the Autumn
Budget.
5.2
As SR21 did not include details of funding at individual council
level, assumptions were made in the draft budget proposals on how
funding streams such as the £1.6bn of additional funding for
social care and other services and any New Homes Bonus would be
allocated. In this broad context, the Executive published its draft
budget proposals, which were open for consultation for a six week
period.
5.3
In the face of significant pressures on Local Government
expenditure and grant funding, the scope to invest in new service
provision is severely restricted. Many of the pressures
accommodated in the budget package are simply unavoidable as they
relate to current levels of demand or legislation changes.
5.4
As in previous years, economies have focused as far as possible on
increasing efficiency, income generation, reducing central and
departmental support and transforming rather than reducing front
line services.
5.5
The draft budget proposals, which reflect the priorities in the
Council Plan and included a suggested approach for inflation, are
summarised in Table 1.
Table 1: Draft
Budget Proposals
|
Directorate
|
Commitment Budget
(CB )
|
Capital programme
|
Inflation
|
Service Pressures /
Economies1
|
Covid-19
Contingency
|
Specific Grant
Assumptions
|
Earmarked Reserves
– 20/21 Collection Fund
Deficit
|
Draft Budget
2022/23
|
|
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
|
Central
|
18,404
|
0
|
0
|
-97
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
18,307
|
|
Delivery
|
14,780
|
0
|
0
|
30
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
14,810
|
|
People
|
80,459
|
0
|
0
|
2,155
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
82,614
|
|
Non Departmental /
Council Wide
|
-41,320
|
67
|
4,400
|
292
|
-3,417
|
2,104
|
11,498
|
-26,376
|
|
Total
|
72,323
|
67
|
4,400
|
2,380
|
-3,417
|
2,104
|
11,498
|
89,355
|
1Note the differences between the best and worst
case pressures will inform the level of general contingency
required in the budget to guard against risks rather than being
allocated to individual directorates.
6
Local Government Finance Settlement
6.1
Overview
6.1.1
The Provisional Settlement was published on 16 December 2021 and to
prioritise certainty for 2022/23 it has been confirmed that the
settlement is for one year only. This confirmed that funding in a
number of areas would be maintained or increased in 2022/23 and
also provided details at council level of additional funding
announced as part of SR21. The final settlement has still to be
published.
6.1.2 Funding from central government is
currently received through a share of Business Rates, Revenue
Support Grant (RSG) and Specific Grants. The provisional settlement
delivers additional grant of £1.195m compared to the
expectation at the time the draft budget proposals were published,
although the -£0.244m received from the Market Sustainability
and Fair Cost of Care Fund is expected to be cost neutral due to
the additional costs that will be incurred (paragraph 6.3.4).
6.2
Revenue Support Grant (RSG)
6.2.1 SR21 did not refer to RSG but the
provisional settlement confirmed that it would be increased in line
with the September increase in CPI (3%) and that two small grants
would be rolled into the total to simply the funding landscape,
namely the Electoral Registration grant and the Financial
Transparency of Local Authority Maintained Schools grant. RSG will
therefore increase by -£0.057m to -£1.837m which is
-£0.029m more than assumed in the draft proposals.
6.3
Specific Grants
6.3.1 SR21indicated that councils would receive
£4.8 billion of new grant funding over the SR21 period
(£1.6 billion each year) for social care and other services.
This grant would include funding for the Supporting Families
Programme and additional funding to tackle cyber security
challenges facing councils. However, the provisional settlement has
confirmed that the funding for both these areas will now be
delivered outside of the Local Government Finance Settlement and
further detail will follow in due course. Allocations that
were confirmed as part of the provisional settlement are covered
below.
6.3.2 The additional funding allocated includes a
one-off ‘2022/23 Services Grant’ (£822m in total)
which will be unringfenced so that it can be used to support local
priorities. The Council’s share of this grant is
-£1.160m. The Government has stated it intends to work
closely with local government on how to best use this funding from
2023/24 onwards.
6.3.3 The government will provide councils with
£700 million in new grant specifically for social care. Of
the £700 million of additional grant, £636 million is
proposed for an increase to the Social Care Grant and the remainder
as an inflationary uplift to the improved Better Care Fund. As a
result, Social Care Grant has been increased by -£0.839m to
-£2.829m for Bracknell Forest with the 3% inflation uplift
for the IBCF worth an additional -£0.045m.
6.3.4 The Government outlined in SR21 that social
care reform funding would be part of Core Spending Power. The
Department for Health and Social Care's Market Sustainability and
Fair Cost of Care Fund has therefore been included within Core
Spending Power in 2022/23. This £162 million fund is to
support Local Authorities prepare their markets for reform and move
towards paying providers a fair cost of care. The Council will
receive -£0.244m from this fund in 2022/23. Funding in the
following two years is expected to be more significant (£600
million each year) but is conditional upon the conclusion of a cost
of care exercise, the publication of a provisional 3-year market
sustainability plan on how councils intend to move to a sustainable
rate fee and a grant spending report. It has been assumed the
impact of this grant will be cost neutral on the budget as
additional costs will be incurred to meet the grant conditions.
6.3.5 Lower Tier Services Grant, an un-ringfenced
grant introduced in 2021/22, will be maintained for a further year
and will increase by -£0.010m to -£0.199m. This has
been provided to councils responsible for services such as
homelessness, planning, recycling, refuse collection and leisure
services.
6.3.6 The provisional settlement confirmed that
there would be a new round of New Homes Bonus (NHB) allocations for
2022/23 which would again be for one year only. The existing
allocation mechanism has been maintained for a further year and the
Council’s allocation for 2022/23 will be -£2.294m.
Whilst this is £0.583m less than last year it is still
£0.817m more than assumed in the draft budget proposals. As
the remaining legacy payment (relating to 2019/20) will drop out in
2023/24 and the 2022/23 payment is one-off there is no
guarantee that any income will be available to reduce the budget
gap in future years. The Government has already consulted on the
future of NHB but has yet to respond. It is likely the any reform
will now be implemented in 2023/24.
6.3.7 The ring-fence on Public Health will be
retained in 2022/23, however the settlement included no information
about the national total, or individual council allocations.
6.3.8 Information on a number of smaller Specific
Grants has now been received. Any changes in these grants will be
managed within Directorate budgets and will therefore not impact on
the overall budget proposals.
6.4
Business Rates
6.4.1 Another important stream of income for the
Council is Business Rates, a proportion of which is retained
locally following the introduction of the Business Rates Retention
reforms in April 2013. The level of Business Rates changes each
year due to inflationary increases (set by central government), the
impact of appeals and local growth or decline as local businesses
and economic conditions expand or contract. To support businesses
in the near-term, the government has decided to freeze the business
rates multiplier in 2022/23. This will be cost neutral for the
Council as compensation for the loss of income will be provided via
a section 31 grant.
6.4.2 The Government sets a baseline level of
funding against which any growth or reduction is shared between
local and central government. It has been confirmed this will also
be frozen in line with the increase in the small business
non-domestic rating multiplier (-£16.832m).
6.4.3 The timing of the introduction of a new
Business Rates system is uncertain but it is likely to be in
2023/24. To coincide with this, it is expected that a fair funding
review will be used to calculate the new baseline funding levels
for individual councils based on an up-to-date assessment of their
relative needs and resources. The provisional settlement states
that it is the government’s intention to work closely with
the sector and other stakeholders over the coming months to update
the allocation mechanism and to look at the challenges and
opportunities facing the sector before consulting on any potential
changes. Existing grants including RSG and most likely the Public
Health Grant will be incorporated into the revised baseline and
more responsibilities are likely to be transferred to Local
Government to ensure that the new system is fiscally neutral
overall.
6.4.4 Bracknell Forest is in a virtually unique
position in terms of its current Business Rates income. The
transfer of a large multi-national company on to the
Council’s valuation list in 2013/14 significantly increased
the level of Business Rates collected locally. This transfer
represented a significant windfall for the Council, creating both a
significant opportunity and risk at the time and has been a key
factor in providing resources to balance the Council’s budget
since then.
6.4.5 Around half of the additional income was
used to support the base budget with the remainder set aside in an
earmarked reserve to mitigate against the risk of the additional
income reducing or being withdrawn. This prudent approach meant
that the Council was not immediately impacted by a successful
appeal by the company against the rateable value, which resulted in
it being reduced by 28% in 2016/17. Several other appeals have
since been successful resulting in a further 7% reduction in
rateable value. There are still appeals outstanding on the 2010
valuation and further multiple appeals were lodged following the
2017 valuation which are still outstanding. The Council has been
informed by Government officials that that the company will join
the Central Rating List in 2023/24. Due to changes at the
company’s key site in Bracknell there is also a possibility
that we could see the loss of this income sometime in 2022.
6.4.6 As the timing and outcome of all these
events are uncertain, broad assumptions have had to be made in
calculating future income levels. An unavoidable consequence of
this has been significant volatility in the Collection Fund balance
each year. This continues to represent a considerable risk to the
Council’s current and future Business Rates income. In
2020/21 a deficit of £11.498m was projected on the Business
Rates element of the Collection Fund. This was entirely due
to the additional Business Rates reliefs granted by the Government
after income estimates were submitted at the beginning of the year.
Section 31 grant was provided in 2020/21 to compensate councils for
the resultant loss of income and this was subsequently transferred
into the Business Rates Reliefs Reserve at the year-end so that it
could be used to fund the deficit when it became payable in
2021/22. There is now a significant deficit projected on the
Business Rates element of the Collection Fund for 2021/22
(£2.428m), primarily for the same reason as last year, with
section 31 grant again being received as compensation.
6.4.7 In addition to these specific issues, the
move to the new funding system will be accompanied by a re-set of
the current business rates arrangements. This will most likely mean
that all or a large part of the additional business rates that the
Council has secured through the company referred to above and from
the town centre opening in 2017 will no longer directly benefit
Bracknell Forest.
6.4.8 Section 31 grant is receivable in relation
to Business Rates. This is designed to cover the loss of income
resulting from the capping or freezing of Business Rates increases
in previous years and the freezing of Business Rates increases in
2022/23 plus the impact of several Business Rate Reliefs. Section
31 income is estimated to be -£6.621m in 2022/23
(-£2.142m in 2021/22), an increase of
-£4.479m.
Unlike with 2021/22, reliefs have been granted at an early stage by
the Government and have therefore been reflected in the budget.
This should reduce the likelihood of a deficit at the end of
2022/23.
6.4.9 The 2021/22 budget included an additional
transfer of -£12.035m from reserves, most significantly the
transfer of -£11.498m from the Business Rates Reliefs Reserve
to meet the 2020/21 deficit on the Business Rates element of the
Collection Fund. The basic approach taken to business rates remains
unchanged in 2022/23 and based on the revised projections, an
additional £0.586m will be transferred to reserves
(£3.014m to the Transformation, Future Funding and Town
Centre reserves, partly offset by a drawdown of -£2.498m from
the Business Rates Reliefs Reserve for the 2020/21 deficit on the
Business Rates element of the Collection Fund).
6.5
Medium Term Financial Situation
6.5.1 There is significant uncertainty for the
period from 2023/24 due to the potential impact of a number of
issues, in particular:
·
Fair Funding Review
·
Business Rates system re-set
·
The 2021/22 settlement is for one year only
·
Continuing impact of Brexit and the pandemic
6.5.2 This hampers meaningful financial planning
at a time when there is uncertainty around government funding and
demand pressures are increasing significantly. Given the relative
prosperity of Bracknell Forest and the Government’s aim to
“level up” across the regions, it is unlikely that the
impact of these changes will increase our local resources
overall.
6.5.3 The most likely consequence of all of these
factors combining is an additional recurring budget gap of around
£4.0m in 2023/24, due to funding changes alone. The Future
Funding Reserve has deliberately been created and supplemented
through the additional income from Business Rate Pilot status in
order to help manage the transition to the new funding
arrangements. It is estimated that there will be a balance of
approximately £18.4m available on the Future Funding Reserve
at the end of 2021/22 and 2022/23, which allows the Council to take
a measured approach over time to bridging the gap.
6.5.4 The impact of these factors will be a
greater reliance on Council Tax income as an on-going source of
funding to support essential front-line services. The current level
of Council Tax in Bracknell Forest is still one of the lowest of
any Unitary Authority in England. While a high level of increase in
any year is unlikely to be universally welcomed by residents, for
many years the Council’s financial plans have assumed the
maximum level of increase permitted is applied. This is in
line with Government assumptions and provides the greatest level of
protection possible for essential services in the period from
2023/24.
7
Council Tax and Collection Fund
7.1
The Council Tax Base for 2022/23 has been calculated as 48,249 Band
D equivalents which at current levels would generate total income
of -£67.702m in 2022/23.
7.2
The Government limits Council Tax increases by requiring councils
to hold a local referendum for any increases equal to or in excess
of a threshold percentage which is normally included in the Local
Government Financial Settlement. The Government has set a core
referendum limit of 2% plus the option for councils with
responsibility for adult social care, such as Bracknell Forest, to
set an adult social care precept of up to a further 1%. In 2021/22
the Council was given the option of setting an additional adult
social care precept of up to 3% which could be raised in 2021/22 or
spread across two financial years. 1.5% was raised in 2021/22
leaving the option to raise a further 1.5% in 2022/23, which would
be in addition to the 2%+1% referred to above. Every 1% increase in
Council Tax in Bracknell Forest would generate -£0.677m of
additional income.
7.3
A surplus will be generated on the Council Tax element of the
Collection Fund in the current year, primarily due to a higher
level of growth in new properties than expected. The
Council’s share of this one-off surplus is -£0.354m.
This will be used to support the 2022/23 budget.
8
Developments since the Executive Meeting on 14 December 2021
8.1
Consultation
8.1.1
The Executive’s draft budget proposals have been subject to a
process of public consultation since their publication in December.
During the consultation period, the draft proposals have also been
scrutinised by the Council’s Overview & Scrutiny
Commission. Several points were considered and clarified but
no changes were proposed. An extract from the minutes of the
meeting is attached as Annexe B.
8.1.2
The Schools' Forum considered the Executive's proposals relating to
the schools’ element of the People’s Directorate at its
meeting on 13 January. Continuing concern was expressed regarding
the projected High Needs Block cumulative deficit of circa
£20m as at the end of 2022/23 and the Council’s ability
to manage any potential payback from April 2023. This has
been acknowledged as a key issue for the Council and a high-level
action plan has been developed that is expected to reduce the scale
of the deficit over time. The expected financial impact of
this in each of the coming years is currently being assessed.
8.1.3
The draft budget proposals were published on the Council’s
web site and emails were sent to business ratepayer representative
groups drawing their attention to the consultation. Eighty-six
responses were received to the public consultation via the web site
(set out in Annexes C1 and C2, with names redacted) plus a separate
detailed response from the Council’s Labour Group (repeated
in full in Annex C4). No responses were received from
business ratepayers. Two key themes emerged through the
consultation process;
a)
Concerns raised by licensed taxi drivers
A template response was submitted by 60 drivers, raising concerns
about specific license fee charges. Detailed consideration
has been given to the issues raised by the drivers in a full
response set out in Annex C3. It is believed that, overall,
the proposed fees and charges for 2022/23 will be favourable to the
taxi trade as they include on-line arrangements that will reduce
costs. However, the level of the proposed charge for
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks has been reviewed and
will be reduced from the proposed £94 to £79. A
Government service to update DBS checks on-line is now available at
a cost of £13, which will be promoted and discussed with
driver representatives. Drivers and operators each received
significant grant support from the Council during 2021, recognising
that they continued to face fixed costs while suffering from
reduced income levels. It is therefore proposed to retain all
the other fees at the levels included in the draft budget
proposals.
b) Concerns
raised about reduced staffed opening hours in libraries while
expanding access through the Open+ technology
In total 13 different responses were received opposing this
proposal, highlighting the perceived importance of access to staff
for the core library service and social interaction. In
response, it has been explored how the level of saving identified
could be achieved in a different way. A revised proposal has
been developed to achieve the draft budget saving by reducing the
stock fund budget by £20,000, recognising libraries are
currently struggling to display all current stock, and deleting
vacant posts to save £64,000. This proposed amendment
to the initial proposal, prompted by the budget consultation
responses, will enable the identified saving to be achieved while
retaining the current level of staff opening hours.
8.1.4
The other consultation responses contained a broad range of
comments which have been considered in presenting the final budget
proposals.
8.2
Inflation
8.2.1
The Executive established a framework for calculating an
appropriate inflation provision at its December meeting. Inflation
allowances have now been finalised within this framework and total
£4.368m, £0.032m less than the figure included in the
draft budget proposals. The directorate analysis is shown in Table
2.
Table 2: Inflation Allocations
|
Directorate
|
2022/23
|
|
|
£’000
|
|
Central
|
786
|
|
Delivery
|
1,131
|
|
People (excluding schools)
|
2,445
|
|
Non Departmental / Council Wide
|
6
|
|
Total
|
4,368
|
8.2.2
Inflation on schools’ expenditure is provided for within the
Dedicated Schools Budget expenditure, which is funded mainly by the
Dedicated Schools Grant, with an additional top up from the Council
(section 9.1).
8.3
Other Revisions to the Draft Budget Proposals
8.3.1
As outlined above, in the two months since the Executive published
the draft budget proposals more information has inevitably become
available. The suggested amendments to the draft budget proposals
are set out in paragraphs a) to
j) below, with the net impact being an increase in the net revenue
budget for 2022/23 (£2.482m). These changes have been
reflected in the full budget proposals set out in Annexe D, the
Commitment Budget (Annexe A) and the Contingency (section
10.6).
a)
Council Tax Bills - Central – Resources (Revenues)
The issue of rising costs of living, particularly impacting on low
income households, has been the subject of significant press
coverage in recent months. The Council, assisted by a range
of Government grants, has introduced a broad range of support
measures during the Covid pandemic aimed at assisting households on
low incomes and at risk of suffering financial hardship. This
has included offering reductions in Council Tax bills for
households in receipt of council tax support of £150 in both
2020/21 and 2021/22, funded by specific Government grants.
With those grants having been withdrawn for 2022/23, it is not
sustainable for the Council to continue to provide on-going
financial support of this nature from its own resources.
However, one-off funding is available that enables a reduced level
of discount to be made available in 2022/23 and, subject to overall
affordability, potentially in future years.
Annex H sets out in detail a proposed reduction of £100 in
Council Tax bills that will benefit around 3,000 households paying
council tax on the lowest incomes in 2022/23 as well as a wide
range of support that is available for households experiencing or
at risk of experiencing financial hardship. This will be
funded from Covid-19 grant previously transferred into Earmarked
Reserves (+£0.320m) and is recommended to the
Executive.
b)
Central – Resources (Finance)
An academy conversion will result in lost income for the Finance
service (+0.004m).
c)
Central – PPR (Regeneration and Economic
Development)
Her Majesty the Queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee in
2022. It is proposed to commemorate this with a programme of
events across the Borough, with a key focus on the Lexicon which
Her Majesty visited in October 2018 (+£0.055m). This
expenditure will be one-off, funded from the High Street Innovation
Fund earmarked reserve.
d)
Delivery – Borough Greening
Additional capital and revenue funding will support the
Council’s work on ‘greening the Borough’ through
deep cleaning, changes to vegetation, the removal of dead plants,
plus the planting of new, hardier plant stock in line with the
Council’s climate change strategy (+£0.025m
revenue). This sum complements funding proposed as an
additional capital funding allocation in the separate report on the
agenda dealing with the Capital Programme for 2022/23.
e)
Delivery – On / Off Street Parking
The additional saving from the renegotiation of the contract for
managing the borough car parks was double counted in the draft
proposals, with the same issue also being included in the
Commitment Budget. It has therefore been removed from identified
departmental savings but remains in the budget proposals for
2022/23 (+£0.056m).
f)
People – Social Care Costs
Due to changes in the number and cost of placements since the
December report, Social Care pressures have been updated as normal
to reflect the impact in 2022/23 of existing placements
(Children’s
+£0.799m) and Adults
(-£0.128m).
g)
People – Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
Team Restructure
Since March 2021 the SEND Team establishment has been under review
and subject to a restructure project. A demand modelling review has
taken place to ensure the new structure meets the service demands
and needs of the next 3-5 years (+£0.180m), including
responding to the recent Ofsted inspection.
h)
All Directorates – DSB managed vacancy adjustment
A reduction of the
managed vacancy factor for staffing budgets to 1% plus an
allocation for additional pressures has now been incorporated into
directorate budgets (+£1.046m) to address capacity challenges
that have been exacerbated over the Covid period.
i)
Non-departmental / Council Wide – earmarked
reserves
Transfers from Earmarked Reserves to fund the £100 reduction
in Council tax bills for households in receipt of Council Tax
support (-£0.320m) and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
celebrations (-£0.055m).
j)
Non-departmental / Council Wide – agency savings
Targeted work is
being undertaken in this area to reduce the risk of overspends on
staffing budgets caused by the employment of more expensive agency
workers to cover essential, vacant posts. Detailed analysis
has shown that this work will not enable current budgets to be
reduced and therefore the projected savings included in the draft
budget proposals are now seen as “cost avoidance”,
meaning that the previously identified saving has been
removed. The reduced level of risk of overspends on staffing
budgets will be used to inform deliberations on the appropriate
level of General Contingency to be set aside in the final budget
proposals (+£0.500m).
8.3.2
The Executive is asked to support the changes above and
confirm that thereare no further changes to the draftbudget
proposals that they wish to make following representations made
during the consultation period.
9
Other Budget Issues
9.1
Schools Budget
9.1.1
Whilst spending on the Schools Budget is generally funded by the
ring-fenced Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and therefore outside of
the Council’s funding responsibilities, councils retain a
legal duty to set the overall level of the Schools Budget. In
deciding the relevant amount, councils must plan to spend at least
to the level of estimated DSG.
9.1.2
The DSG comprises 4 funding Blocks, each with a separate
calculation of funding and intended purpose; the Schools Block
(SB); the Central School Services Block (CSSB); the High Needs
Block (HNB); and the Early Years Block (EYB). The SB and CSSB
directly support mainstream schools and are generally delegated to
governors. The HNB and EYB are centrally managed by councils with
most of the funding ultimately being paid directly to providers,
including schools. The HNB supports pupils whose educational needs
are above £10,000 with the EYB mainly funding the cost of the
free entitlement to childcare and early years education for 2, 3
and 4 year olds.
9.1.3
To date, under powers delegated through the December budget report,
the Leader has agreed a budget for the SB of £84.435m, a CSSB
of £0.866m and an EYB of £7.981m. These amounts
represent the estimated level of DSG funding, with the detailed
budget decisions matching those previously approved by the Schools
Forum. The HNB will be considered by the Executive Member for
Children, Young People in March with the estimated -£21.847m
DSG being the primary source of income. Therefore, at this stage,
total DSG income for 2022/23 is estimated at - £115.129m.
9.1.4
Within the DSG allocation, most elements of funding for special
educational needs and disability (SEND) pupils will increase by
11.5% (£2.412m) next year. Whilst a substantial increase,
this would still be insufficient to fund the forecast costs which
indicate a £7.500m overspend for the year which arises from
significant increases in both the numbers of pupils requiring
support and the complexity of need. This is a national issue with
the council working closely with the Schools Forum on a change
programme.
9.1.5
This deficit will be balanced in the Council’s budget by a
charge to the DSG Adjustment Account as it will need to be met from
the DSG over the medium term. A contribution from the DSG
Adjustment Account of £4.943m is already reflected in the
base budget. A further contribution of £2.557m will therefore
be required which has been reflected in the Commitment Budget.
Officers are meeting regularly with stakeholders to identify
further options for change in service delivery and reduction in
costs through the governance of the Schools Forum.
9.1.6
In light of the significant financial pressures that councils are
experiencing on the High Needs (HN) budgets (those intended to
support pupils with SEND) the DfE introduced new rules to make
clear that any accrued deficit is not a liability on councils but
remains a DfE responsibility. Additionally, the DfE has also
introduced a more rigorous monitoring and intervention regime where
council areas have deficit balances or experience a significant
reduction in a surplus.
9.1.7
In respect of DfE liability to underwrite accumulated debt on HN
budgets, recent communications have suggested that this is a 3-year
time limited period to enable councils to move towards a position
of containing annual expenditure within annual income and that
councils should be planning to manage any accumulated debt at April
2023 from their own resources. It is understood that
discussions are continuing between Government Departments on the
timing of this change. Without any interventions, the
forecast balance for HN budgets is a cumulative deficit of
£20m. This is clearly not an affordable position for a small
unitary authority like Bracknell Forest and it is essential that
emerging plans to address the deficit are agreed quickly and
enacted by the Council and schools.
9.1.8
In terms of general school budgets, the
policy of the Council for many years has been to fund up to the
level of relevant annual DSG Block grant income plus any
accumulated surplus balances held in the retained Schools Budget.
Following a request from the Schools’ Forum, the Executive
agreed to contribute £1m from council reserves over the four
years to March 2023, specifically to support the additional costs
arising from new schools. In recommending the budget requirement
next year for schools, as well as utilising the DSG, the final
£0.182m of additional funding remaining from the
Council’s reserves will be utilised. This is a reduction of
£0.045m compared to the £0.227m required in 2021/22 and
included in the Base Budget. The reduction is included in the
Commitment Budget but is cost neutral as it is balanced by a
transfer from the reserve which is reflected within Council Wide
budgets.
9.1.9
Setting the overall level of the Schools
Budget and the operation of the funding formula that distributes
the money to schools is a statutory council function. Agreeing how
much is centrally managed is a decision for the Schools Forum. To
meet these deadlines, council statutory decisions around the
Schools Budget are delegated by the Full Executive to the Executive
Member for Children, Young People and Learning. Recommendation 2.4
sets the parameters for the formal decision to be made. The
Executive Member also endorses the decisions of the Schools Forum
when these are undertaken in its statutory decision making
role.
9.2
Pensions
9.2.1 Accounting standards on the treatment of
pension costs (IAS19) require the inclusion within the total cost
of services of a charge that represents the economic benefits of
pensions accrued by employees. To simplify the presentation of the
budget proposals the IAS19 adjustment has not been incorporated at
this stage, although it will be included in the supporting
information to the Council meeting on 23 February. This will not
impact upon the Council’s net overall budget or the level of
Council Tax.
9.3
Investments
9.3.1
Now that the Council is in no longer debt-free and has made use of external borrowingto part fund its capital investments in recent years,
returns on surplus cash are likely to remain relatively low during 2022/23 and beyond. As such the impact of
interest rates on borrowing rates are of greater significance to
the Council.
9.3.2
The coronavirus outbreak has done huge economic damage to the UK
and to economies around the world. After the Bank of England took
emergency action in March 2020 to cut the Bank Rate to 0.10%, it
left the Rate unchanged at its subsequent meetings until raising it
to 0.25% at its meeting on 16th December 2021. Economies continue
to re-open, while governments have either commenced or are
contemplating dialling down emergency fiscal support
mechanisms.
9.3.3
For the UK, fiscal policy tightening has already been put in place.
On the monetary policy front, matters are more complex, with price
pressures on the rise and expected to remain elevated into 2022/23,
while economic recoveries are seemingly losing momentum heading
into the latter stages of 2021/22. Markets are unsettled, with
asset prices coming under pressure following their largest gains
made in the formative stages of recovery. The forecast for the Bank
Rate now includes four increases, one in quarter 2 of 2022 to
0.50%, quarter 1 of 2023 to 0.75%, quarter 1 of 2024 to 1.00% and,
finally, one in quarter 1 of 2025 to 1.25%.
9.3.4
Vaccines were the game changer during 2021 which raised high hopes
that life in the UK would be able to largely return to normal in
the second half of the year. However, the Omicron mutation at the
end of November changed the landscape again. Rather than go for
full lockdowns which heavily damage the economy, the government
strategy this time is focusing on getting as many people as
possible to have a third (booster) vaccination after three months
from the previous last injection, as a booster has been shown to
restore a high percentage of immunity to Omicron to those who have
had two vaccinations.
9.3.5
With the household saving rate having been exceptionally high since
the first lockdown in March 2020, there is plenty of pent-up demand
and purchasing power stored up for services in sectors like
restaurants, travel, tourism and hotels which had been hit hard
during 2021 but now looks likely to be hit hard again by either, or
both, of government restrictions and/or consumer reluctance to
leave home. The economy, therefore, faces significant headwinds
although some sectors have learned how to cope well with Covid.
9.3.6
The 2022/23 Treasury Management Report attached as Annexe E
re-affirms the strategy adopted by the Executive in December 2016
that governs the amount, duration and credit worthiness of
institutions that the authority will place investments with during
2022/23. As such the Council will only place deposits with the most
highly rated UK Banks and Building Societies, alongside the
part-nationalised UK Banks, up to a limit of £7m and for a
maximum period of 364 days (for part-nationalised UK Banks).
Additionally, the Council will be able to invest up to £10m
with AAA Money Market Funds and other UK Local Authorities and an
unlimited amount through the Government Debt Office Management
Deposit Facility. The Annual Investment Strategy is shown in part
(iv) of Annex E. Following the review by the Governance and Audit
Committee on the 26 January 2022, the Treasury Management Strategy
remains unchanged from that consulted on in December.
9.3.7
The Local Government Act 2003 introduced a revised framework for
capital expenditure and financing, underpinned by CIPFA’s
Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities. The Code
requires the Council to set a number of prudential indicators and
limits relating to affordability, capital investment and treasury
management. They are included at Annexe E (i) and within the
Treasury Management Strategy Statement at Annexe E (iii).
9.3.8
The capital programme is being considered separately on
tonight’s agenda and proposes Council funded capital
expenditure of £9.274m and an externally funded programme
(including self-funding schemes) of £7.037m for 2022/23.
After allowing for projected receipts of approximately £3.5m
(including CIL) in 2022/23 and carry forwards, the additional
revenue costs will be £0.067m in 2022/23 and £0.341m in
2023/24. These figures have now been reflected in the Commitment
Budget and the impact on 2022/23 is unchanged from the draft
proposals. Costs will need to be revised at the meeting if the
Executive decides on a different level of capital spending.
9.3.9
The Council is required to pay off an element of the accumulated
General Fund capital spend each year through a revenue charge (the
Minimum Revenue Provision or MRP), although it is also allowed to
undertake additional voluntary payments. The regulations issued by
the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s
(MHCLG) require full Council to approve an MRP Policy in advance of
each year. The Council is therefore recommended to approve the MRP
Policy set out in Annexe E (ii) to the Treasury Management
Strategy. The MRP policy has been drawn up to ensure the Council
makes prudent provision for the repayment of borrowings (in
accordance with the Regulations) and at the same time minimises the
impact on the Council’s revenue budget. The Government
is currently consulting on proposed changes to MRP guidance, the
result of which may require changes to the Council’s MRP
policy in future years, although the extent of such changes is not
currently known.
9.3.10 As
capital expenditure is incurred which cannot be immediately
financed through capital receipts or grant, the Council’s
borrowing need (its Capital Financing Requirement) and its MRP will
increase. The Council also needs to make a charge to revenue for
“internal borrowing”.
9.3.11 The draft
budget proposals included an estimate of £1.718m for the
Minimum Revenue Provision required to be made in 2022/23 and
£0.524m for a Voluntary Revenue Provision relating to
commercial property purchases. These figures have been reviewed
based on the latest capital projections and remain unchanged. The
actual charge made in 2022/23 will be based on applying the
approved MRP policy to the 2020/21 actual capital expenditure and
fundingdecisions.
9.4
Capital Charges
9.4.1
Capital charges are made to service directorates in respect of the
assets used in providing services and are equivalent to a charge
for depreciation. The depreciation charges are included in the base
budget figures and are important as they represent the opportunity
cost to the Council of owning non-current assets. They must
therefore be considered as part of the overall cost of service
delivery, particularly when comparisons are made with other
organisations. It is also important that these costs should be
recognised when setting the level of fees and charges.
9.4.2
Capital charges do, however, represent accounting entries and not
cash expenditure. The Council is therefore able to reverse the
impact of these charges “below the line”,i.e. outside
service directorate costs, thereby reducing the net revenue budget
whilst not directly affecting the overall cost of each individual
service. This means that the charges do not affect the level of
Council Tax. The capital charges in 2022/23 total £15.796m
which is an increase of £0.494m compared to the current year
and results from new additions and revaluations. There will be no
impact on the charge to the General Fund which is based on the MRP
not depreciation.
9.4.3
Changes to capital charges do affect internal services recharges
(see below). Changes to these have not been incorporated into the
budget proposals in this report at this stage, although they will
be included in the supporting information to the Council meeting on
23 February.
9.5
Internal Services Recharges
9.5.1
Members’ decisions on the capital programme may affect
capital charges and this will determine the overall cost of
services in 2022/23. Due to their corporate nature, some
services do not relate to a single service directorate, e.g.
finance, IT, building surveyors, health and safety advisers etc.
The budgets for these services are changed only by the specific
proposals impacting on the directorates responsible for providing
them (Central & Delivery). However, all such costs must be
charged to the services that receive support from them.
9.5.2
The impact of changes in recharges for internal services is
entirely neutral across the Council as a whole, since the
associated budgets are also transferred to the services receiving
them. The overall level of recharges is dependent upon the
Executive’s budget proposals being approved.
10
Statement by the Executive Director: Resources
10.1
Under the Local Government Act 2003, the Executive Director:
Resources (as the Council’s Section 151 Officer) must report
to Members each year at the time they are considering the budget
and Council Tax on:
a) The
robustness of estimates; and
b) The
adequacy of reserves.
In addition, CIPFA guidance on Local Authority Reserves and
Balances states that a statement reporting on the annual review of
earmarked reserves should be made to Council at the same time as
the budget. The statement should list the various earmarked
reserves, the purpose for which they are held and provide advice on
the appropriate level.
Robustness of
estimates
10.2
The annual statement on the robustness of the estimates formalises
the detailed risk assessments that are undertaken throughout the
year and which are a standard part of the budget preparations and
are included in the Council’s Strategic Risk Register.
This identifies a
number of key risk areas including:
·
significant pressures on the Council’s ability to balance its
finances whilst maintaining satisfactory service standards;
·
the impact of the coronavirus on internal staff resources and
external suppliers, and the council’s ability to deliver
essential services and meet the increasing needs of the
community;
·
the impact of the high use of long term locums and agency workers
for key posts and labour market pressures on finances and business
resilience;
·
ensuring children with special education needs receive timely and
appropriate support for their education where demand is increasing,
and internal resources are limited;
·
the impact of demand led services and the need to plan for and
respond to future and in-year demographic changes, changes in the
market for services and any associated financial pressures;
·
sustaining adult social care services where there is insufficient
external provision available;
·
effective safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults when there
are external factors outside the Council’s control;
·
delivery of an IT Strategy and digital infrastructure that meets
business needs, compliance, information accuracy, data protection,
greater reliance on end users and the threat of cyber-attacks;
·
maintaining adequate Business Continuity plans and procedures;
·
maintaining an adequate internal control environment.
10.3
The budget includes resources sufficient to enable the Council to
monitor these key risks and where possible to minimise their
effects on services in accordance with the strategic risk action
plans. Specific risk reduction measures that are in place include
the following:
·
Budget Setting Process
-
Production and regular monitoring of a robust medium-term financial
strategy.
-
Regular analysis of budgets to identify legislative, demographic,
essential and desirable service pressures / enhancements.
-
Detailed consideration of budgets by officers and Members to
identify potential budget proposals.
-
Robust scrutiny of budget proposals prior to final agreement.
-
Ensuring adequacy and appropriateness of earmarked reserves, both
for the immediately following and future years.
·
Budget Monitoring
-
Robust system of budgetary control with regular reporting to the
Corporate Management Team (CMT) and through the Quarterly Service
Reports (QSRs).
-
Exception reports to the Executive.
-
Regular review of the Councils’ budget monitoring
arrangements by both internal and external audit to ensure they
remain fit for purpose.
-
Taking corrective action where necessary during the year to ensure
the budget is delivered.
-
Specific regular review by Finance Business Partners of
particularly volatile budget areas.
10.4
The Executive Director: Resources receives regular updates from
Business Partners on the largest and most volatile budget areas
which could place the overall budget most at risk and makes
arrangements to report these through the regular monthly budget
monitoring process. The most significant risks in the 2022/23
budget have been identified as the following:
·
Covid-19 Pandemic – uncertainty surrounding the length
and overall impact of
the continuing pandemic on costs and income;
·
Demographics – the number of “demand” led
adult and child client placements, the rising cost and numbers of
looked after children, increasing support pressures resulting from
people living longer, the impact of new housing developments and
changing service provision of social care encouraging people to
seek support;
·
Income - specifically in Leisure, Planning and Building
Control Fees, Car Parks, Commercial Property, Land Charges and
Continuing Heath Care funding. Significant income streams are
reliant on customer demand and physical infrastructure remaining
operational, placing a heavy reliance on planned and reactive
maintenance being adequate;
·
Major schemes / initiatives – progress with the Town
Centre redevelopment, Waste Management PFI and the implementation
of savings proposals;
·
Inflation – the provision is based on estimates of
inflationary pressures at the current time;
·
Treasury Management – return on investments and
additional borrowing are affected by cash flow and the level of the
Bank rate.
·
Uninsured losses – the Council’s insurances
cover foreseeable risks. However, some risks are uninsurable,
including former County Council self-insured liabilities and
mandatoryexcesses;
·
Contractual Issues – disputes, contract inflation (in
particular rates for care providers which are increasing due to
rising demand and reducing supply) and renewal of major
contracts:
·
Legislative Changes – difficulty in identifying the
financial and non-financial impacts and whether any future burdens
will be fully funded;
·
Independent external providers – changes in provision
by independent service providers may result in increased costs to
the Council;
·
Service interdependencies – the potential impact of
service reductions in one area on the demand for other services
provided by the Council;
·
External inspections –improvements identified through
external inspection;
·
Safeguarding – failure to adequately safeguard
vulnerable people could result in cost pressures.
10.5
The probability of some of the above risks occurring is high.
However, it is unlikely that all will occur at the same time. The
measures in place, set out in paragraph 10.2, lead the Executive
Director: Resources and CMT to conclude that the budget proposals
have been developed in a sound framework and are therefore robust.
However, it needs to be recognised that not all adverse financial
issues can be foreseen looking almost fifteen months ahead, e.g.
the impact of changes in demand led services or severe weather
conditions. It is therefore prudent to include, as in previous
years, contingency sums within the budget proposals.
Contingencies
10.6
In setting the budget for 2021/22, the level of General Contingency
was maintained at £2.250m and a Covid-19 specific contingency
(£3.417m) created to cater for the difference between best
and worst-case scenarios for pressures. Rather than build worst
case scenarios into the base budget the additional contingency was
available to meet these additional pressures if they arose during
the year. Within the draft budget proposals for 2022/23 the General
Contingency remained unchanged, and the Covid-19 specific
Contingency was removed. Although best and worst-case scenarios
have again been considered for 2022/23, it was felt that all risks
could be handled by way of the General Contingency as the impact of
the pandemic has reduced, although it was recognised that this
approach would need to be reviewed.
10.7
The Executive Director: Resources, Chief Executive and CMT have
reflected upon the outlook for the economy, the impact of
demographic changes and the resulting pressures on services and
other risks contained within the proposed budget. Considering
significant risks, including the worst case pressures
(£1.619m) partly offset by potential savings from managing
agency costs more proactively, a decrease of £0.350m in the
General Contingency to £1.900m is now felt to be
appropriate.
Earmarked Reserves
10.8
Earmarked Reserves are sums of money which have been set aside for
specific purposes. These are excluded from general balances
available to support revenue or capital expenditure. The Council
had £84.209m in Earmarked Reserves at the start of 2021/22
which were approved by the Governance and Audit Committee in July
2021. The Executive Director: Resources
has undertaken a review of existing earmarked reserves and Annexe F
sets out each reserve considered. The Executive Director: Resources
will review again the earmarked reserves considering the changing
risks facing the Council as part of the 2021/22 closedown process
and any changes will be presented to the Executive and the
Governance and Audit Committee as part of the closure of the
accounts.
11
Net Revenue Budget
11.1
Tables 3a and 3b summarise the budget changes for each directorate,
assuming that all items outlined above and detailed in Annexes A to
F are agreed, but before changes to capital charges, pension costs
and internal services recharges are incorporated within service
directorate budgets.
Table 3a: Summary of budget changes
|
|
Inflation
(Section
8.2)
|
Revisions to draft budget proposals (Sections 6.2, 6.4, 7.3, 8.3 and
10.6)
|
Changes
to Specific
Grants
(Section
6.3)
|
Total Changes Identified
|
|
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
|
Central
|
786
|
932
|
0
|
1,718
|
|
Delivery
|
1,131
|
554
|
0
|
1,685
|
|
People (excluding
schools)
|
2,445
|
4,640
|
-884
|
6,201
|
|
Non Departmental / Council
Wide
|
-4,394
|
-6,423
|
-37
|
-10,854
|
|
TOTAL
|
-32
|
-297
|
-921
|
-1,250
|
Table 3b: Non Departmental / Council Wide – revisions to
draft proposals included in Table 3a
|
Non Departmental / Council
Wide
|
Revisions to draft budget
proposals
|
|
|
£’000
|
|
Grant adjustments (paragraph
6.3)
|
|
|
New Homes Bonus
|
-817
|
|
Lower Tier Services Grant
|
-10
|
|
Services Grant
|
-1,160
|
|
Less grant assumed in December
report
|
1,950
|
|
Savings and pressures allocated to
Directorates from Council Wide
|
|
|
DSB managed vacancy
factor
|
-1,222
|
|
Contract savings
|
50
|
|
Digital Infrastructure
Group
|
-40
|
|
Council Tax Support funded from
Covid-19 Reserve (paragraph 8.3)
|
-320
|
|
Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
celebration funded from High Street Innovations Reserve (paragraph
8.3)
|
-55
|
|
Agency savings removed and reflected
in Contingency calculation
|
500
|
|
Change in Contingency
|
-350
|
|
Changes in Business Rates Growth,
S31 income projections and
levy payment (6.4.6 and
6.4.9)
|
-3,015
|
|
Additional movements in earmarked
reserves (paragraph 6.4.9)
|
586
|
|
DSG Adjustment Account
(9.1.5)
|
-2,557
|
|
TOTAL
|
-6,423
|
11.2
These figures are added to the draft proposals to produce a final
budget proposal for each directorate. This is summarised in Table
4.
Table 4: Draft Budget Proposal 2022/23
|
Department
|
2022/23
Draft
Proposals
(Table 1)
|
Changes
Identified
(Table 3a)
|
Revised Budget
Proposals
|
|
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
£’000
|
|
Central
|
18,307
|
1,718
|
20,025
|
|
Delivery
|
14,810
|
1,685
|
16,495
|
|
People (excluding
schools)
|
82,614
|
6,201
|
88,815
|
|
Non Departmental / Council
Wide
|
-26,376
|
-10,854
|
-37,230
|
|
Total
|
89,355
|
-1,250
|
88,105
|
11.3
The Net Revenue Budget in 2022/23 if the Executive agreed all
proposals would be £88.105m before allowing for additional
interest resulting from any use of balances. This compares with
income of -£84.297m from Revenue Support Grant
(-£1.837m), Business Rates baseline funding
(-£16.832m), Council Tax at 2021/22 levels (-£67.702m),
Collection Fund – Business Rates deficit (£2.428m) and
the Collection Fund – Council Tax surplus (-£0.354m).
The Net Revenue Budget is therefore now £3.808m above the
level of income for 2022/23.
12
Funding the Budget Proposals
12.1
Members can choose to adopt any or all of the following approaches
in order to bridge the remaining gap:
·
an increase in Council Tax;
·
an appropriate contribution from the Council’s revenue
reserves, bearing in mind the Medium Term financial position;
·
identifying further expenditurereductions.
12.2
Council Tax Increase
12.2.1 Each 1% increase in Council Tax in 2022/23 will
generate approximately -£0.677m of additional revenue towards
the budget gap. The maximum amount the Council is permitted to
increase Council Tax by is 4.49%.
12.2.2 This report proposes in recommendation 2.2 to reduce
the financial burden for working age households receiving council
tax support by making available a council tax discount of
£100, following on from discounts of £150 in both
2020/21 and 2021/22 (Annexe H and section 8.3.1(a)).
12.3
Use of Balances
12.3.1 The Council
needs to maintain reserves to aid cash flow and to protect itself
from fluctuations in actual expenditure and income. An allowance
for cash flow is
reasonably easy to calculate. However, an allowance for variations
against planned expenditure is more difficult.
12.3.2 In deciding the level of any contribution from
balances, the Executive will wish to have regard to the level of
balances available. The Council’s General Fund balance will
be £10.3m as of 31 March 2022, if spending in the current
year remains within the approved budget, which is the expected
position.
Table 5: General Balances as at 31 March 2022
|
|
£m
|
|
General Fund as at 01 April 2021
|
10.3
|
|
Planned use in 2021/22
|
(0.0)
|
|
TOTAL Estimated General Balances
|
10.3
|
12.3.3 The Council has for many years planned on maintaining
a minimum prudential balance currently assessed to be £4.5m,
which indicates that a sum of up to £5.8m is potentially
available for use. However, given that these resources are one-off,
it is important when considering the use of reserves to not only
consider the current year’s budget but also future
years’pressures.
12.3.4 The Council will also have an estimated £18.4m
in the Future Funding Reserve as at 31 March 2022, which has been
deliberately established to help manage the expected additional
budget gap of around £4.0m per year from 2023/24, due to
national funding changes.
13
Preceptors’ Requirements
13.1
The Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel met on the 28 January 2022
to determine the 2022/23 budget for the Thames Valley Police and
Crime Commissioner (TVPCC). The proposed increase of £10
(4.32%) for a Band D property, from £231.28 to £241.28,
was approved. The Royal Berkshire Fire Authority (RBFA) will not
determine its budget and precept for 2022/23 until 15 February. The
tax for a Band D property for RBFA in 2021/22 was £68.95. The
Parish and Town Councils have yet to set their precepts for
2022/23. These totalled £3.721m in 2021/22 with an average
tax of £78.16 for a Band D property. All precepts will be
reported to the Council meeting on 23 February 2022.
14
Summary of Matters for Decision
14.1
Annexe G outlines the Council’s Council Tax Requirement based
on the draft budget proposals. The outcome of the Executive’s
deliberations will be recommended to the Council meeting on 23
February regarding the budget and Council Tax level for 2022/23.
These will be incorporated in the formal Council Tax resolution
required by the Local Government Finance Act 1992 as amended.
However, the following matters need to be determined at this stage
in order to allow the Executive to recommend a budget to the
Council for 2022/23:
a)
confirmation of the draft budget proposals, taking account of
issues raised during the consultation period and revisions
identified to reflect current information (sections 6.2, 6.3, 6.4,
7.3, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1 and 11.2), set out in detail in Annexes A, D and
G;
b)
confirmation of the impact of changes in investments and investment
rates on the budget (section 9.3);
c)
the level of the corporate contingency (section 10.7);
d)
the level of Council Tax increase (section 12.2);
e)
subject to (a) to (d) above and decisions considered elsewhere on
the agenda, to determine the appropriate level of revenue reserves
to be retained and the consequent use of balances to support the
budget in 2022/23 (section 12.3).
14.2
As outlined above, dependent upon the decisions made by the
Executive concerning these issues, it may be necessary to adjourn
the meeting to enable officers to calculate the appropriate figures
to include in the recommendations.
14.3
A detailed budget book will be prepared during March exemplifying
the budget at the level of detail required to support the scheme of
virement.
15
ADVICE RECEIVED FROM STATUTORY AND OTHER OFFICERS
Borough Solicitor
15.1
In carrying out all of its functions, including the setting of the
budget, the Council must comply with the Public Sector Equality
Duty set out in the Equality Act 2010. That duty requires the
Council to have due regard to the need to:-
a)
eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other
conduct that is prohibited by the Act;
b)
advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a
"relevant protected characteristic" and persons who do not share
it;
c)
foster good relations between persons who share a relevant
protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
"Relevant protected characteristics" are age, disability, gender
reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief,
gender and sexual orientation. As to (b) above due regard has to be
had in particular to the need to:-
·
remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by persons who share a
relevant protected characteristic that are connected to that
characteristic;
·
take steps to meet the needs of persons who share a relevant
protected characteristic that are different from the needs of
persons who do not share it;
·
encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to
participate in public life or in any other activity in which
participation by such persons is disproportionately low.
The Equality Impact Assessments annexed to this report have been
prepared in order to assist the Council to meet the Equality Duty
in considering the budget.
Executive Director: Resources
15.2
The financial implications of this report are included in the
supporting information.
Equalities Impact Assessment
15.3
The Council’s budget proposals impact on a wide range of
services. A detailed consultation was undertaken on the draft
budget proposals published in December to provide individuals and
groups the opportunity to provide comments.
15.4
Equality impact assessments are attached at Annexe I.
Strategic Risk Management Issues
15.5
The Director: Resources’ Statement in Section 10 sets out the
key risks facing the Council’s budget and the arrangements in
place to manage these risks, including maintaining an appropriate
level of reserves and contingency.
Climate Change Implications
15.6
There are no implications arising from the proposals in this
report, which are recommending budget proposals to Council.
16
CONSULTATION
16.1
Details of the consultation process and responses received are
included in section 8.1.
Contacts for further information
Stuart McKellar – 01344 352180 Stuart.mckellar@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
Arthur Parker – 01344 352158 Arthur.parker@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
