This consultation closed on 25 January 2023
Consultation Details
This consultation has concluded
Nottingham City Council’s Executive Board is considering a set of new saving and income proposals to deliver £29m towards balancing Nottingham City Council’s budget for 2023/24.
Have your say on the proposals by completing our consultation survey and taking part in one of our engagement events.
If you would like to take part in one or more of our in-person or online engagement events please find a full schedule by clicking this link which will then open in a new page: View here
To view a summary of the budget proposals before completing the online survey click this link, it will then open in a new page: View here
To see the full report: View here
FAQs: View here
EIAs: View here
WHAT ARE WE CONSULTING ON?
Councils are required by law to set a balanced budget each year.
The council had been on track towards setting a balanced budget next year but this was knocked off-course by the unforeseen rising inflation, fuel and energy costs that are impacting households and businesses across the country, along with other pressures including a higher-than-expected nationally-agreed pay increase for hardworking council staff which comes without any additional funding from Government.
The budget is also being set in the context of a challenging employment market, increased demand for services, some post-Covid pandemic supply chain challenges continuing to impact upon the council’s finances, the need to secure financial sustainability and resilience and continued lack of certainty over future Government funding.
The overall budget gap is £32.2m – with the current proposals leaving a further £3.2m of savings to be addressed by February 2023.
The amount of Revenue Support Grant Nottingham City Council receives from Government has fallen from £126.8m a decade ago to £26.7m last year. This is the equivalent of £694 for every household in Nottingham.
The other main source of income is Council Tax, which the Chancellor announced in his Autumn Statement can now be increased by up to 5%, including a 2% precept towards adult social care costs.
The Government announcements on adult social care funding are based on councils funding most of that by increasing Council Tax through the adult social care precept. Eighty percent of Nottingham’s homes are in the two lowest Council Tax bands – almost twice the national average - reducing the council’s ability to raise funds this way.
Faced with this and increasing pressures on services – particularly adult and children’s social care and homelessness support – the City Council has based its budget proposals for consultation on raising Council Tax by the full 5% permitted under Government proposals.
The Council believes that because the Government has chosen to fund social care this way, rather than through a proper funding through the Revenue Support Grant, unless we raise Council Tax in line with their limits there will be even more pressure on services and even less money for adult social care in the city.
The savings proposals also include a workforce reduction of 110 full-time equivalent posts. The majority of posts in scope for reduction are currently vacant. Meanwhile other savings proposals are part of or complement the transformation programme which is underway to radically change the way the council operates. These include:
- Changes to adult social care, including more independent living support instead of residential or nursing care
- Reviewing fees and charges for parking, cremation and burials, leisure centres and cafes
- Reviewing grants to community groups, community centres and cultural organisations
- Withdrawing the Shopmobility service at the Victoria Centre
- Stopping collection of household bins put out on the wrong day
- Short-term mothballing of two floors of Loxley House pending the review of options for our offices and depots
- Increasing tariffs for EnviroEnergy customer
Do you have any general comments or suggestions about the Council's budget proposals as a whole? Please use the 'take the survey' button at the top of this page to have your say or click here.
If you require a paper copy of the survey, you can find one at any local Nottingham City libraries branch. You can also leave your completed survey at any branch library, just ask at the library reception desk. For library locations and opening times click on this link.
If you need help with translation, or for any other queries please contact engage@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
The survey is open until 25th January. Feedback will be communicated at Full Council in March 2023.