The Consultation, Engagement and Equalities Manager reported on the consultation process on the budget consultation, which aimed to ensure effective engagement with Town andCommunity Councils and local residents.  She stated that the Forum will receive a presentation on the Medium Financial Strategy, which will set the scene for future years’ savings requirements and budget pressures.  

The Forum received a presentation by the Group Manager Financial Planning and Budget Management on the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) in order to set the scene for future years’ savings requirements and budget pressures. She informed the Forum that as at quarter 1, an over spend of £904k was forecast.  She highlighted the financial impact of Covid-19 on the Council, which had seen additional cost pressures; lost income such as car parking, school meals and planning fees.  MTFS savings of £1.760m in 2021-22 may not be achieved and there may be a potential shortfall in Council Tax collection.  However, there were some unanticipated savings as some service provision had reduced or stopped, as well as mileage savings due to the reduction of physical meetings.  Financial support had been provided by the Welsh Government, through the Covid Hardship Fund, which has now been extended to 31 March 2022.  She highlighted the likely budget scenarios facing the Council in the February 2021 MTFS, with most likely budget scenario being a reduction of £6.959m in 2022-23 and informed the Forum that the higher the Aggregate External Finance and higher Council Tax increase, the lower budget cuts required.  She also highlighted the impact of an increase in funding of 2% by the Welsh Government would result in different savings targets for different levels of Council Tax increase.   

The Group Manager Financial Planning and Budget Management outlined the pressures facing the Council such as the longer term impact of Covid-19 as the recovery phase is entered and uncertainty of funding levels; the impact of Brexit on costs / prices; staffing costs – increase in National Living Wage, Real Living Wage, and unknown pay awards; inflationary pressures, with CPI currently at 3.2%, rising rapidly and demographic pressures.  She stated that potential priorities included Business and the economy; Homelessness; Health and wellbeing; Digitalisation; Decarbonisation and

Council Tax levels collected.

The Consultation, Engagement and Equalities Manager informed the Forum that of the number of residents who had engaged in the budget consultation process, with 5,000 engaging in 2018 and 7,500 engaging in 2019.  Despite the pandemic, which did not allow face to face engagement to be carried out, there were 1,831 interactions in 2020 through a combination of survey completions, engagement at various meetings, social media and digital communication engagement and via the local authority’s Citizens’ Panel.  She stated that the aim of the consultation (which went live this afternoon) is to consult as wide as possible and it was hoped to replicate face to face consultation and live meetings in 2021.  A link to the electronic form and posters would be sent to all Town and Community Councils.  The Consultation and Engagement team will liaise with Town and Community Councils directly to arrange attendance at meetings.  The Consultation, Engagement and Equalities Manager informed the Forum that the MTFS and Budget Consultation Report will be presented to Cabinet in December.

A member of the Forum referred to Town and Community Councils being asked to take on responsibility for functions and services from the County Borough and asked whether these would be bankable savings or cuts.  The Group Manager Financial Planning and Budget Management stated that the Council used a variety of approaches to achieve the MTFS savings, e.g income generation and try to find as many budget reductions as possible through the smarter use of resources rather than by cutting levels of service.  The Leader commented that the Council will always strive to provide the best service, although it was likely that the bigger share of savings would be in the form of budget cuts going forward.     

RESOLVED:            That the Town and Community Council Forum received and considered the report and gave consideration to engagement during the live period.