Council budget 2023-24: What it means for finance and resources

Budget proposals for 2023-24 have been endorsed by the Cabinet of Bridgend County Borough Council to ensure the local authority can continue to provide essential services and meet some of the most difficult challenges that it has ever faced.

Councillor Hywel Williams, Cabinet Member for Resources, believes that while it represents the toughest budget that he has ever worked upon, it also prioritises people’s wellbeing and reflects the reality of the unique situation facing the UK right now.

He said: “This budget has been set against a backdrop of huge increases in demand for essential council services, an unavoidable need to make savings of £2.6m, a massive 10 per cent rise in inflation, increasing difficulties in sourcing materials and resources including staff, and the ongoing impact of the cost of living crisis upon us all.

“The council is not immune to any of this, and while householders have been rightly concerned about pressing issues such as rising food and energy bills or how they can afford to heat their homes, the same issues have affected our day centres for adults, our homes for looked-after children, our residential care facilities and more.

“When you consider that we have already covered a £72m shortfall since 2010-11, setting a fully balanced budget which enables us to meet these increased costs while also continuing to provide important services has been truly challenging.

“What we have done is to finely-tune this budget, making sure it is as fair as possible to the taxpayer while also remaining realistic and fit for purpose, all while focusing upon maintaining the ongoing health, safety and wellbeing of the people we serve.”

To help guide their decision-making, Cabinet developed a set of principles outlining their aims which have underpinned the budget – to protect the most vulnerable people in local communities, to focus upon preserving and protecting services by limiting growth for the coming financial year, to review all budgets and identify savings, to prioritise reductions against back office functions, to anticipate future budget pressures, and to consider whether schools are able to contribute towards the overall savings after having been protected from cuts for more than a decade.

Councillor Williams said: “In addition to applying these principles, we have learned from best practice at other local authorities, have both lobbied for and received a fair settlement from Welsh Government, and have taken the proposals through multiple meetings of the all-parties Budget Research And Evaluation Panel, the scrutiny committee process, Corporate Management Board, a wide-ranging public consultation and more.

“All of this has resulted in a gross revenue budget of £485m, a net budget of £342m and a capital investment programme of £69m.

“At 4.9 per cent, we have kept council tax as low as possible, reducing it down from the previously suggested 6 per cent in order to fund additional budget pressures and cover a funding shortfall of £8m. This works out as being the equivalent of an extra £1.50 a week for an average Band D property.

“We have also been able to avoid proposed cuts for home-to-college transport, fly-tipping enforcement and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution while investing money such as £1.8m for upgrading children’s play areas, £1.75m on grants to provide disabled facilities in people’s homes, £1m on refurbishing local highways and much more.

“This is a budget that prioritises wellbeing, and I look forward to seeing it go before full Council on Wednesday 1 March for a final decision.”

Councillor Williams also addressed two of the most commonly asked questions around the issue of setting the council budget.

He said: “We are often asked why we do not use council reserves when faced with having to make cuts, but the clue really is in the name - it is money which has already been reserved for specific purposes, and which is subject to regular audit to ensure that it is maintained at the right level.

“Similarly, while some have suggested that the council gains extra revenue by charging council tax on new housing developments, this isn’t true – before providing councils with their funding allocations for the year, Welsh Government first deducts the amount of council tax that each area is expected to raise.”