Council to find £12.1m of budget cuts for the coming year
Council costs will continue to be more than its income this year – with a starting deficit of £12.1m.
It means that West Berkshire will have to find further savings or income generation to set a balanced budget.
The council has found £3.7m of savings which don’t require public consultation and included £1.2m that do.
On top of that, there is a further £5.5m of savings being assessed, meaning another £1.7m needs to be found.
This £12.1m figure is based on the assumption that Council Tax increases by 4.99 per cent overall, in line with previous government limits.
“To fill the remaining gap, we have a range of options available, including changing the way we provide services, making internal savings, for example: re-tendering contracts for better value for money, reducing overheads, restructuring, spending reserve funds, and introducing new charges or increasing existing charges for some services,” says the council.
“Through extensive internal discussions and meetings with our service providers, we’ve identified nine saving and income generating proposals.
“We have discounted using our reserve fund, as it is a one-off fund, and is already forecast to reduce below the minimum level required by the chief financial officer.
“As part of the budget process, we are proposing to increase the general fund reserve to provide greater financial resilience.”
All savings will be included in the report being considered at the executive and full council meetings being held this month.
As part of its annual budget setting cycle, the council goes out to public consultation.
Street lighting is one of the suggested cuts. The council provides much of the street lighting in West Berkshire.
These streetlights are already dimmed up to 70 per cent in residential locations to save energy. The current budget to maintain these is just over £1 million.
Looking to outsource three adult social care centres to an external provider would expect annual budget savings of £469,000.
Those are Greenfield House in Calcot, Hungerford Recourse Centre and the Phoenix Resource Centre in Newbury.
There are also plans to cut the adult respite in the community service and increase some ASC fees.
Councils across the country continue to face unprecedented financial pressures, and West Berkshire Council is no exception.
Post the Covid pandemic, councils including West Berkshire have experienced high inflation, resulting in increasing costs and rising demand on social services.
Councils are required by law to deliver a balanced budget and where a council is unable to set a balanced budget, exceptional financial support is sought from central government.
Exceptional financial support involves an appointed set of external commissioners scrutinising the council’s finances, and if necessary, agreeing a recovery programme.
West Berkshire Council is currently working through a range of different options to produce a balanced budget for financial year 2025/26.