Slough council tax set to rise by three per cent

As part of the 2022/23 budget setting, the Labour-run council is proposing a 1.99 per cent increase in council tax and a one per cent rise in the adult social care precept – an increase of £44.56 for band D properties.

Increasing council tax by nearly three per cent is the maximum permitted without going to referendum.

For the current financial year, the council is facing a £223m deficit and is anticipating to see a further estimated £84m, totalling a £307m blackhole in 2022/23.

The revenue budget, money used for day-to-day spending, such as adult social care, is set at £107.6m. But the council’s financial pressures require this to be set at £191.7m, resulting in an £84.1m deficit.

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Within the budget paper, which is due to go to scrutiny, cabinet, and full council next week, finance officers predict the local authority could “potentially” face a longer-term deficit of £479m.

SBC issued a section 114, which freezes all non-essential spending, in July after it was unearthed the council was £760m in borrowing debt, the third-highest per head of population amongst all unitary councils.

It also had a £174m deficit, which has grown to £307m, caused by historic mismanagement of previous budgets and accounting errors, poor financial systems, and “very poor governance” of all of its companies.

The minimum revenue provision (MRP), money set aside to pay off debt, has been calculated incorrectly since 2015. The council was previously paying £40,000 but it should have been set for £18m.

Slough Borough Council (Image: Google Maps)

In 2022/23 the MRP is set to rise to nearly £29m, which contributed to the £307m deficit.

Emerging pressures within services, contingencies, and provisions have also spiked to nearly £76m from 2021/22 to 2022/23.

In order to wipe off the £307m, the council is planning to sell off up to £600m of its assets over the next five years. However, this will require permission from the government known as a capitalisation directive.

It will also have to deliver about £20m-worth of savings each year in the next five years. This will include cuts to services and restructuring departments, which will involve staff redeployments, redundancies, and job vacancy deletions.

If things go according to plan, finance officers estimate SBC will see a £66.2m deficit next year and be debt-free by 2028/29.

Cllr Rob Anderson

Councillor Rob Anderson, lead member for financial oversight, council assets and performance, said he was “confident” SBC is setting “more realistic targets” to deal with its gargantuan financial mistakes.

He said: “The council fully acknowledges the position it finds itself in as a consequence of its previous decisions, culture and approach and is determined to address this very serious situation.

“It is tackling the historic issues it is facing by focusing on producing its accounts, preparing proper budgets, reviewing its financial processes in all their aspects, preparing for the sale of a large element of its assets and addressing staffing shortages among many other matters.

“Taken as a whole the budget papers put forward a comprehensive, detailed and robust budget proposal for the council for the coming financial year 2022/23.”

(Left) Finance Commissioner Margaret Lee and Lead Commissioner Max Caller

The commissioners, who have been sent in by government to assist SBC to fix its financial woes, said the set of budget reports “exposed the recklessness” in the way the local authority has managed its affairs over the years.

Not including precepts from other authority bodies, such as parish councils and Thames Valley Police, Slough band D households could see their council tax bill rise to £1,534.86.

Here’s how much you could be paying in council tax, including parish, Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, and Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue:

Within the budget, adult social care will see funding of £28.4m, children service’s is set to receive £7.7m, and Slough Children First Limited, which is wholly owned by the council, will see funding to the tune of £31.4m.

Another £39m will be spent on universal services, such as waste management, road maintenance, leisure, and library services.

As part of its nearly £20m savings target, SBC is planning to reduce street cleaning and grounds maintenance, ‘remodel’ the library service, slash jobs and vacancies within children’s services, increase water charges for allotments, among many others.

The dedicated school grant – a ring-fenced allocation of government money to fund schools and services – could see a deficit of £25.5m and could rise to about £43m in two years if no mitigation is put in place.

A ‘safety value’ intervention programme and an action plan with the Department for Education is being conjured up to reduce this blackhole.

The capital programme, money used to spend on infrastructure projects, has £219m to spend on schemes from 2021/22 to 2026/27.

Grants and other sources of income will fund this whereas SBC will borrow £17m to meet the remaining cost.

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It includes £29m of funding for new highways schemes, a £20.7m loan to enable the recladding of Nova House and £105m on the council’s housing stock.

SBC is also planning to spend £11m on children’s services for schools’ modernisation programme and the expansion of the special schools’ provision, mostly from grants. It also includes £6m for improvements in IT.

The council virtually has no reserves, money set aside to cushion unexpected events or emergencies, but as part of the capitalisation directive, finance officers plan to use £20m to rebuild the general fund reserves.

Senior councillors will discuss the budget at an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Wednesday, March 9, and will be formally adopted at a full council meeting the day after.