Give us your feedback on our four-year financial plan
The Council will be setting its budget for 2019/20 in February this year. This involves updating the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for the next four years.
The MTFP sets out how Council funds will be spent on the services and priorities which have been agreed after consulting local residents and partner organisations.
These priorities are:
- Helping to create a safer and healthier environment for our residents to live and work in;
- Meeting financial challenges and providing value for money;
- Supporting economic development and regeneration; and
- Protecting and improving the environment.
The MTFP aims to make sure that the funds available are used efficiently and effectively to deliver these priorities. It also outlines the significant financial pressures facing the Council over the next four years and the plans to respond to these pressures.
Get involved
We are now asking people to give us their feedback on these proposals. All comments will be treated anonymously and considered before final decisions are made. Please send your comments to:- policy@highpeak.gov.uk
Summary
Key issues in the Medium Term Financial Plan are set out below:
- The way in which all local authorities are financed is changing from government grant to locally generated income such as council tax and business rates together with fees and charges for Council services. In 2014/15 local income streams accounted for only 52% of the Council's income; by 2019/20 this is expected to have risen to 95%.
In recent years, the Council has benefited significantly from New Homes Bonus - the Government grant funding awarded to Authorities based on an increase in housing provision. Income from the scheme peaked in 2016/17 at £773,000. Since then, income levels have reduced due to national changes in the overall generosity of the scheme. More amendments to the scheme are expected in 2019/20 which will further reduce the benefits. The current MTFP includes new Homes Bonus of £500,000 - £600,000 pa over the next 4 years. This level of income is at significant risk from the proposed changes.
As was the case in 2018/19, the plan proposes an increase in the Council's share of council tax of 2.9% in 2019/20, which will generate £163,000 in income.
During 2018/19 the Council has, together with other Derbyshire Authorities, been a pilot for the 100% Business Rates Retention scheme. This has had financial benefits for the Council. The Government has announced a new round of pilots for 2019/20 which will be based on a 75% retention. The Council has again applied to be part of the scheme. As a successful outcome is not guaranteed; the Council has not included any financial benefits from this in the MTFP. The outcome of this application will be known in December and the impacts included in the February revision of the Plan.
The Council is reviewing its existing fees and charges (charges for Council provided services e.g. pest control, leisure facilities, planning, trade waste) with the aim of generating an extra £80,000 in 2019/20. Further income is anticipated in the Council's efficiency programme arising out of income generation opportunities.
The Council will need to encourage and enable sustainable economic and housing growth even more than it already does in order to obtain the optimum income from business rates, council tax and New Homes Bonus in future.
The Council introduced a new £2.1million efficiency programme in February 2017 to address a budget shortfall over the medium term. This programme will enter its third year in 2019/20 and will focus on savings arising out of: asset management; and further development of the joint arrangements with Staffordshire Moorlands District Council (the Council's Alliance partner) for the provision of environmental services. The aim is to continue to make savings at the same time as maintaining priority services.
The Council maintains a stock of over 4,000 housing properties. Under government legislation, annual rent reductions of 1% have been required over a 4 year period. The final year of this reduction programme will be in 2019/20, by which time it will have cost the Housing Revenue Account £2.4million in reduced rent. From 2020/21 rents are currently forecast to increase by 2.5% (depending on inflation rates). The Housing Business Plan, which has been subject to on-going review over the last 12 months, is currently reflecting a surplus of £365,580 by the end of 2022/23 (the time horizon of the new MTFP). There remain challenges to confront in the longer term as the full impacts of the stock conditions survey are brought into the business plan. This will inform the level of capital expenditure necessary to maintain the housing stock over the medium to long term.
