Draft Budget 2024-25 Proposals

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:

• Adult Social Care and Public Health
• Chief Executive  
• Children’s Services  
• Environment and Communities   
• Grenfell Corporate 
• Future Grenfell Support 
• Housing and Social Investment   
• Resources and Customer Delivery  
• Corporate  

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