North Yorkshire County Council’s Executive will meet next week to consider the budget in the light of pressure on services, the progress of its transformation programme and the continuing need to make savings.
Members will vote on a recommendation to increase general council tax next year by 1.99% along with a 2% social care precept. The Council’s financial strategy is based on a similar 3.99% increase each year up to 2020 in order to prioritise frontline services.
The cost to the average band D household will be an additional £45.64 per year (£3.80 per month or 88p per week).
The government has offered Councils the chance to front-load this year and next by increasing the social care precept by 3% in each of the next two years. The Executive however looks set to raise the social care precept by 2% in each of the next three years to balance the need for funding of critical services, including adult social care, with affordability for the local taxpayer.
“We are aware of the pressure on people’s finances” said County Councillor Carl Les, North Yorkshire’s Leader. “Many families are already struggling to make ends meet and we feel we cannot add significantly to their burden.”
Nevertheless North Yorkshire remains concerned about the increasing pressures it faces, not least in adult social care and will continue to push for a fairer government funding deal given the current low levels of funding; the higher numbers of older people; and the higher costs of delivering in a large rural county.
In the coming financial year, the County Council faces additional costs of £13m in adult social care which now accounts for nearly half the Council’s overall budget. This is a result of pressure from increasing demand, the impact of the National Living Wage, inflation and some planned savings which cannot now be achieved because of the increasing demand on the service
Recent care market studies show that North Yorkshire is already at a place where the rest of the country will be in 2020, with demand for services and demographic trends five years ahead of the national average.
“Without doubt we face enormous challenges in the delivery of frontline services,” said Cllr Les, “but we will continue to work closely with partners in the NHS and voluntary sector to deliver high quality, sustainable services and we will continue to innovate and improve to support older and vulnerable people to live well and independently in their communities for as long as possible.
“We will also strive to continue to make savings while addressing the needs of the county by continuing with our programme to transform the way we deliver services.”
Cllr Les said the council also needed to continue to invest in programmes such as superfast broadband, extra care facilities, prevention services for vulnerable people and tackling potholes on the county’s extensive roads network in order to boost growth and economic development in the county.
By April, the County Council will have delivered nearly £127m of savings. However, even with tax rises, nearly £43m in further savings will be required through to 2020 –a 34% reduction in the Council’s total spending power since 2011.
The County Council already has plans for saving nearly £33m; but there remains a further shortfall of nearly £10m by 2020/21. To address the shortfall the Council plans to draw on its reserves by £2m in the next financial year while bringing forward further savings proposals to address this £10m savings gap.
“We have delivered savings so far in a way that has been sensitive to the needs of the county and we want to continue in this way”, said County Councillor Gareth Dadd, North Yorkshire’s Deputy Leader, who is responsible for financial planning. “We have not slashed and burned as some councils have done. This year’s budget is part of a carefully planned nine year innovative savings programme to prioritise the frontline.
“Our staff are key to delivering this transformation programme and are constantly coming up with fresh ideas to square the circle – to make savings while improving service delivery. Nevertheless the challenge becomes greater as time goes on.
“We are now looking very carefully and putting together a programme for how we can make the additional savings currently necessary”.
Options being considered, for example, are replacing some street lighting with LED units to save on energy and maintenance and expanding the nationally applauded transformation programme for young people in care to take in schools for young people with social, emotional and mental health difficulties.
Cllr Les added: “We are also taking steps to increase income through the development of commercial and traded services. North Yorkshire’s trading arm SmartSolutions already generates sales of around £52m, contributing £2.5m towards the costs of delivering Council services.”