Draft Budget 2024-25 Proposals

Closed 21 Dec 2023

Opened 9 Nov 2023

Contact

Liam McCusker

(Head of Financial Management (Strategy and Planning))

Financial Management

Liam.McCusker@rbkc.gov.uk

Feedback updated 17 May 2024

We asked

A consultation was carried out on the draft savings, increased service provision (growth), and capital investment proposals between 9 November 2023 and 21 December 2023. Information was included on the Council’s website and was communicated through various channels, including newsletters to the general public, the voluntary sector, businesses and key partners, inviting them to contribute. 

Thirty-two people responded to the consultation on the budget proposals. This was more than double the previous year and the Council wishes to thank all residents who took the time to respond. 

You said

Combining all responses, we received an even split of 12 respondents who supported the proposals and 12 respondents who opposed the proposals. We also received seven responses who were neutral or did not know what their stance was.

When asked what disagreements or alternative suggestions residents had with the consultation, the following key areas were mentioned. The Council reflected on these views to address residents’ concerns in preparing the 2024/25 budget, through the responses expressed below.

We did

Lack of provision for Adult Social Care (ASC)

The Council is very aware of increasing cost pressures within the Adult Social Care sector and has put additional funding into this area as part of 2024/25 budget setting. To help manage demand and continue to provide high-quality services the Council is including growth of £2m, raise an additional £2m through the ASC Precept, as well as increasing the budgets for inflationary pressures.

The Council is also ensuring that concerns about discontinuation of reablement services are addressed; we will continue to provide support through our existing agencies for eligible residents and commission a new specialist reablement provider in 2024.

Concerns about Adult Mental Health scaling back were also raised, and we pleased to say there have been no reductions in service budget.

Lack of provision for Children’s services

The Council is very aware of cost pressures in these areas and have included £500,000 of budget growth to address the increasing numbers of care leavers and the increasing costs related to looked after children, due to the shortage of appropriate placements in the market.

In 2024/25 the Council will spend over £60m on Children’s Services and £25m on pupils with High Needs from the Dedicated Schools Grant supporting 759 pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans and pupils in alternative and hospital provision.

Councillor allowances and spend on staffing

All 50 councillors receive a basic allowance to cover intra-borough travel and other necessary subsistence costs. Following a review earlier this year, there has been a modest increase in the allowance from £11,027, to £11,689. This decision has been made following a five year freeze on the amount to compensate for inflationary costs. The allowance still remains below the average rate amongst other London Boroughs.

The 2024/25 budget includes staff savings of two per cent, totalling £2m. The Council is also considering further staff reductions for the 2025/26 budget. We are also introducing recruitment panels to help manage staffing levels.

Need for more investment into Environmental services

Ensuring the borough becomes greener is one of the three commitments in the Council Plan published last year, and we have committed to delivering focused actions to tackle climate change, local environmental issues and become a Net Zero council in our new Climate Emergency Action Plan. The Council is also reviewing a climate budget initiative, with ambitions to launch in 2024/25 to embed climate considerations in our financial activities.

The capital programme has made inclusions for £4.6m investment in parks and green spaces until 2026/27, including new playgrounds, park buildings and improving horticulture. The Council proposals also include £229,000 to increase street cleaning and graffiti removal, with extra resource also allocated to street cleansing teams to increase our commitment to providing for a cleaner, greener borough.

Housing and Temporary Accommodation Pressures

The Council have a statutory responsibility to provide temporary accommodation to eligible people in the borough, and due to increased demand and pressure the Council is looking to make efficiencies and make capital investment to reduce long term costs. The 2024/25 budget includes an additional £1.5m of budget growth to address these pressures going forward, as well as capital pipeline investment provision of £18m to increase available accommodation in the borough.  There will also be an increase in Local Housing Allowance from April 24th to match the 30th percentile of local rents, so the cheapest 30 per cent of rents will be affordable to people on low income or Universal Credit.

Citizens’ Panel funding cuts and accessibility

The Citizens’ Panel remains a fundamental project within the Council to understand views of the public and help residents influence decision making processes. Assessment of the relatively small proposed £5,000 reduction shows little to no impact on the Council running the programme. We envisage being able to regularly recruit new members to the panel to keep it representative of the borough and will continue to ensure all accessibility requests made to attend the event are met, as it has done over the past three years.

Council Tax Inequality and Rebate

The Council is proposing again in 2024/25 to offer support to less well-off households and ensure residents with greater resources are contributing more towards the Council’s overall funding. The current proposal under review is to provide £100 to 16,000 low income groups in the borough. Despite the difficult decision to increase council tax by 4.99% for additional funding for public services, we have also ensured that our council tax rate remains in the lowest quartile in London. We have extended our empty homes council tax premium to properties that have been empty over a year (which used to be over two years), with anticipated additional income of £871,000.

Needed more clarity on what the budget proposals are

We intend to start the consultation earlier in 2025/26 to allow more time for residents to complete their responses, and welcome feedback on how to make the documents easier to understand and complete. We have also held sessions with the Youth Council to explain local government financing and engage students in the consultation process, to encourage involvement with all residents in the borough.

A summary of the feedback received and the Council’s responses to them can be found in appendix 6 of the budget report.

Results updated 17 May 2024

Files:

Overview

We need your views on the Council’s budget for the financial year 2024/25.

We are asking for you to complete this consultation as it will help shape our financial priorities and deliver value for money for our residents, businesses, and communities. The Council’s draft budget report for 2024/25 includes key saving and growth revenue proposals, and an update on the Council’s capital programme.

This budget has been created to support our Council Plan commitments, to create a Greener, Safer and Fairer borough for all residents to enjoy.

It is very important that our residents and businesses have a say on this draft budget to help to ensure the Council delivers the Council Plan priorities and set a balanced budget for 2024/25.

It is a statutory requirement for a Council to set a balanced budget, which requires all income generated from government grants, council tax, business rates and investments, alongside savings plans, to be equal to all expenditure by the Council. This ensures that the Council is operating in a sustainable and manageable way. The budget growth and savings included in the proposals are measured in this way to ensure they all contribute to achieving our community standards.

The proposals have also been reviewed against an equalities impact assessment, which is summarised in a separate report. This evaluates the impact each proposal has on our residents and community in upholding the principle of fairness.

The Council’s updated fees and charges for 2024/25, due to be agreed by Full Council in February 2024, is also being consulted on from 7 December – 7 January 2024.

How can you get involved?

We are keen to get your views and feedback on the consultation. It only takes a few minutes to complete our consultation survey and your views will help to inform our budget decision-making.

Background

The Council has a budget gap before any budget reductions of £9.7m for 2024/25. The bulk of this pressure relates to increases in demand for our services, particularly temporary accommodation, high interest rates and steep inflationary costs given the challenging economic climate. There remains an estimated budget gap of £37m for the period 2025/26 to 2027/28. Included in this is an assumption that £9m of social care funding is at risk of falling out from 2025/26. During this challenging financial backdrop, it is essential the Council delivers value for money for residents, and these proposed budget savings aim to save money without reducing the quality of the services the Council provides to our residents.

This consultation focuses on the budget for 2024/25 that is due to be agreed by Full Council in February 2024 and the proposals for which we are seeking your feedback on, breakdown into three main types:

  • Budget Pressures/Growth – proposed increased budget in 2024/25 to fund increased service provision
  • Budget Reductions – proposed cost reductions and additional income for 2024/25. These savings are required to achieve a balanced budget for 2024/25. Any savings not taken forward will need to be replaced with alternatives on a £ for £ basis as the Council is required to set a balanced budget
  • Capital proposals – Proposed capital projects either for inclusion in the current programme or pipeline.

An Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA) Summary Report – details individual equality reviews of each proposal to measure their impact on residents and the community.

The below proposals are split between the revenue and capital budgets. The revenue budget refers to day-to-day expenditure and income for the Council, such as service delivery and staff costs, whereas capital budgets refer to expenditure used to acquire assets for the long-term functionality of the Council (includes physical assets and cash assets).

Revenue Proposals

Below are a few key proposed savings (all proposed savings can be seen in the budget proposals):

  • £550,000 relating to Adult Social Care service users in prevention initiatives to support more independent living and provide more sustainable long-term solutions for care
  • £1,797,000 relating to two per cent staff savings across the Council
  • £250,000 through Customer Relationship Management and website enhancement to increase functionality
  • £500,000 of additional income by letting a number of new homes following completion under the New Homes Programme
  • £490,000 relating to proposed parking policy changes
  • £300,000 relating to a library service model restructure to extend community services
  • £950,000 in Section 106 infrastructure planning savings
  • £340,000 for future Grenfell support.

Below are a few key proposed areas of growth (all growth can be seen in the budget proposals):

  • £2,000,000 invested into mitigating Adult Social Care Placement, Home Care, Reablement and Direct Payment demand
  • £500,000 forecasted pressures from increased costs within Children’s Services
  • £1,500,000 for supporting increased numbers of people using temporary accommodation
  • £109,000 for additional Street Cleansing crew
  • £120,000 relating to graffiti removal provisions
  • £100,000 to support local Flood Risk Management Strategies.

A summary of each of the budget areas above is listed by service area below:

The full list of revenue proposals in one document.

Capital Proposals  

The consultation focuses on capital proposals recommended for inclusion in the ongoing Capital Programme. Below are the key proposals included:

  • Digital Inclusion Programme (£170k) – Aimed at increasing accessibility and delivery capacity through digital platforms and investing in technology
  • Street Lighting Column Replacement (£120k each year) – The ageing lighting stock will be replaced with LED efficiency bulbs.

The proposal also includes projects which have been put forward for the Capital Pipeline. These are projects that will be developed further with a view of being moved to the main capital programme once feasible. Below are the key proposals included:

  • North Kensington Social Justice Archive (£500k) – Community-led project to establish new library archives
  • Chelsea Bridge (£200k for 2024/25 out of £14m budget from 2023/24 - 2026/27) – Total refurbishment including electrics, metal work and carriageways.
  • Temporary Accommodation (£12m) – Rolling programme to acquire new housing units.
  • Footway replacement programme (£500k) – part of the 10-year programme to change material from concrete ASP to natural York Stone.

Please download and view the full document outlining the capital proposals.

Why your views matter

We’d really appreciate it if you can spend a few minutes to complete our consultation survey. Your views at this stage will help to inform our budget decision-making.

If you need help to complete this survey, or need it in an alternative format please email Liam.McCusker@rbkc.gov.uk

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