Agenda item

1.            The Cabinet Member for Finance, Mr P J Oakford, introduced the report and advised that, as in previous years, Cabinet Committees were being asked to discuss and comment on the budget before it was considered by the full Council.  Ms Cooke and Mr Shipton then summarised the report and detailed the national and local context in which this year’s budget had been set and the measures taken by the County Council to manage the impact of these.

2.            Mr Oakford, Ms Cooke and Mr Shipton then responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:-

a)    the work which had gone into preparing the budget was commended and officers were thanked for their time and diligence;

a)    asked about funding being made available to improve broadband in Kent, now that so many more people needed to work from home, Ms Cooke advised that broadband improvement was being addressed jointly by the Growth, Environment and Transport and Strategic Corporate Services directorates. On behalf of Mr M Whiting, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Mr Oakford undertook to provide Members with a simple guide to helping Kent residents to address any broadband issues;

b)    asked what percentage of the Council’s budget was taken up by staff costs, Mr Shipton advised that salaries and pensions for directly-employed staff made up only about 20% of the total budget. Ms Cooke added that staff costs represented a smaller percentage of the budget than previously as the Council had moved gradually to being a commissioning body; many former County Council staff were now employed by arm’s length trading companies.  Mr Oakford added that the staff employed by the Council’s trading companies had no impact on the Council’s wage bill;

c)    asking about increasing reserves and using these to address residents’ service needs, Mr Oakford advised that the situation this year with reserves was difficult and unprecedented. The County Council had to plan for financial resilience to ensure that its programmed services and improvements could be retained. Ms Cooke advised that reserves were currently at a low but adequate level.  The short- and long-term impacts of the end of the pandemic upon service demands were difficult to predict, but there were a number of financial risks, for example, fewer care home places had been taken up during the pandemic but the budget needed to take account of a potential increase in demand once the pandemic had ended; 

d)    concern was expressed about the nature and ongoing impact of Council Tax upon the Council’s budget, representing around 70% of the Council’s income. Council Tax was calculated on the value of a person’s property, taking no account of the ability to pay.  The economic impacts of the pandemic had brought into sharper focus households with reduced incomes who had been struggling to pay Council Tax; and

e)    lack of long-term funding for adult social care was also a significant concern, and the Government’s promised white paper on the subject was still awaited. Mr Oakford advised that the County Council had previously increased its share of Council Tax by 3%, when this was permitted with the sole aim of supporting the increasing costs of delivering adult social care services in the county. The Government’s long-term plans for funding adult social care were not yet known. Mr Shipton advised that the County Council, in line with many other local authorities, included the issues of Council Tax and adult social care costs every year in its response to the Government’s budget consultation, but no Government response had yet been received. 

3.            The Chairman paid tribute to the way in which the County Council’s staff had risen to the many challenges raised by the pandemic and recorded his thanks and appreciation.

4.    It was RESOLVED that:-

a) the draft capital and revenue budgets, including the responses to

the budget consultation, be noted; and

b) Members’ comments on the draft capital and revenue budget be reported to the Cabinet and full County Council when they consider the draft budget, on 25th January 2021 and 11th February 2021, respectively.