Published on Friday 03 November 2023
BCP Council has today published the latest report on its finances, setting out the significant progress made in preparing proposals to deliver a sustainable financial future.
The report details how the council has taken meaningful steps over the last months to prepare plans to deliver a balanced budget for 2024/25 despite the challenging financial climate in which it is operating.
UK councils are facing an unprecedented challenge. Soaring inflation has driven up costs and many councils are facing an increase in demand for their services, such as social care, education and highways.
BCP Council shares these challenges as it focuses on closing a £44million funding gap.
Residents will be asked to have their say on future council savings via public engagement this November and December.
BCP Council Leader Vikki Slade said: "We have been clear when taking on this financial challenge that we would not shy away from the difficult decisions ahead.
"Our absolute priority is to deliver services that best meet the needs of our residents while enabling us to financially live within our means.
"We are facing the same difficult financial pressures as all other local authorities. We are taking steps to avoid serious government intervention that has already happened in other councils.
"We are managing the situation. We are working with officers and members, stakeholders and residents, to do what’s best for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole so that we can protect key services that support our most vulnerable. That means keeping children, young people and vulnerable adults safe.
"We have been open and honest about the financial challenges. We will not shy away from this and we will avoid deferring those tough decisions to future years.
"Over the last few months, we have made really good progress in reducing that budget gap from £44M to £12M, but we know there is still work to do.
"We cannot afford to live beyond our means and we need to look at what core services we can afford to continue to provide and what we may need to change, do differently and in some cases stop.
"But we will be open and honest about those decisions, and work with you to understand the impact. We welcome your feedback and challenge through our engagement process."
The report shows how the council has identified savings, efficiencies and income that could reduce that budget gap from £44M to £12M.
Some of these savings have come from the council’s transformation programme which has been working to redesign services to make them more efficient, and in turn, more cost effective to run.
Urgent work will continue over the coming months to close the remaining £12M funding gap. As part of these plans, the council will establish a voluntary redundancy scheme for staff.
In summary, the Financial Update recommended that the BCP Council Cabinet:
- Acknowledges the progress in delivering a balanced budget for 2024/25.
- Endorses the updated Mid-Term Financial Plan position.
- Approve the implementation of a voluntary redundancy process to support the delivery of a balanced budget for 2024/25 with delegation to the Chief Executive to develop an appropriate policy.
The Financial Update Report is available here and will be discussed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 13 November.