Bracknell Forest: Council tax could increase to plug funding gap

Bracknell Forest’s draft budget papers for the 2021/2022 financial year indicate the authority predicts it will spend £89.4 million from April 2021 to March 2022.

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But as things stand, the council is only set to generate £83.2 million in income from council tax, business rates, grants and more in the same period.

This means Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) needs to generate an extra £6.2 million in order to keep its day-to-day services running.

Budget papers published yesterday (Monday, December 7) suggested BFC could plug this funding gap in three ways.

• By increasing council tax by up to three per cent (but this hike could be split over two years)

• By using the council’s reserves (which is a pot of money saved for emergency or unusual situations — BFC estimates it will have £6.7 million in general reserves by March 2021)

• By using additional government grants should these be confirmed

A six-week consultation on the spending plans is set to be approved after BFC’s top team meets to discuss the budget next week (Tuesday, December 15).

A number of factors have been considered in calculating the council’s spending for the year ahead.

This includes £90 million of spending on items it is already committed to, such as providing social care, waste disposal, staff salaries and more.

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It also includes an extra £8.4 million in spending pressures, where BFC is facing extra costs in paying for its services.

Social care demands, for example, are likely to force BFC to spend an extra £3.85 million in 2021/2022.

To balance the books, the council is looking at making savings of around £3.3 million.

This will include reductions in spending across its departments, but with social care services facing savings of £1.77 million.

Another £8.2 million will be clawed back into the council’s budget after the reversal of transfers into pots for future funding of council services and business rates revaluation following “significant volatility in Bracknell Forest’s collection fund balance”.

A reduction in business rates income will create an added pressure of around £1 million for the council, as well inflation provision to the tune of £1.2 million.

The draft revenue budget has been published before the government’s financial settlement plans for local government.

Therefore, the budget is based on a number of assumptions and is liable to change.

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Draft plans for the capital budget, which is separate cash used for building or maintaining council-owned properties and sites, show £6.9 million of proposed spending from BFC, with another £5.2 million coming from developers contributions, government grants, and more.

Bracknell Forest Council’s top team is expected to approve a consultation on the draft budget plans at a meeting on Tuesday, December 15.

Should councillors go ahead with the consultation, residents can submit their views on the proposals for consideration by the executive before councillors from all parties vote on the final budget in late February next year.