Buckinghamshire Council Cabinet makes budget recommendations

Democracy and Local Affairs

Next year’s spending plans and council tax proposals have been considered by Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet today as part of the overall process to set the 2022/23 budget.

The Buckinghamshire Council budget for 2022/23 has been set amidst a turbulent time for public sector finances, with many competing pressures such as higher inflation rates and the significant costs of providing social care. However, Buckinghamshire Council is in a better position than many local authorities; we are able to balance our books and commit spending to key priorities that our residents have told us matter most to them.

Social care costs are projected to rise by around 5% next year, meaning that overall the Council is budgeting for nearly £300 million in total social care spending during 2022/23.

This huge sum means we can go on providing critical services for the residents that need them most but we need to raise council tax to help cover this cost. Last year councils were advised they could raise the adult social care precept by a full 3 % to cover the costs of adult social care. However, we chose to defer some of that rise until this year, to spread the burden for our residents over a longer time. It means that this year we’re proposing a 2% rise in Council Tax to cover the increase in adult social care costs. In addition, we are proposing an inflation increase in our general service costs of 1.99%. This compares to inflation of over 5%. This general inflation increase, combined with the special increase to cover the increased costs of social care gives an overall proposed rise of 3.99%, or £1.23 per week for the average Band D property.

This proposal is part of the overall budget plans that have been scrutinised in recent weeks and which have now been recommended by Cabinet, ahead of final consideration by Full Council on Wednesday 23 February. The budget was set following consultation with residents who told the Council which areas they wanted to see prioritised. It means the balanced budget proposal includes plans to spend money on key projects such as:

 

  • Continuing to spend over £100 million on improvements to roads and pavements
  • Tackling the climate crisis including planting more than half a million new trees in Buckinghamshire, one for every resident
  • Investing nearly £25 million in waste services, including vehicle upgrades and a new household recycling centre in the north of the county
  • Cleaning every one of the 85,000 gullies in the county again this year
  • Continued additional funding for litter clearance
  • Adding to the funds available for rolling out high-speed broadband into additional areas
  • Maintaining the Street Warden scheme in High Wycombe

 

Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, said, “Believe me when I say it is not an easy decision to raise Council Tax, especially when we know our residents are facing rising energy costs. But we face increased costs too for everything we spend money on to provide the essential services our residents depend upon.

Council Tax now makes up 82% of how we fund these services and given costs such as Adult Social Care are going up by as much as 5%, we simply don’t have a choice. We are doing what we can to keep this to a minimum and are implementing the additional 1% Adult Social Care precept that was deferred from last year. We also know that residents in Bands A-D will also get a Council Tax rebate of £150 as announced by Government recently, so this will reduce the cost for many households in Buckinghamshire.

Our budget is formed on behalf of our residents so we must include spend on projects they tell us they want. So overall, I am proud we are in a position to produce a balanced budget that still includes significant spending on improving our roads and infrastructure, improving our environment, and carrying on making Buckinghamshire the best place to live, raise a family, work and do business.

“The last two years have been a massive strain on us all, but we remain in a strong position to come out of the pandemic with firm plans for the future and a well-planned strategy to make these a reality.”