Brent Council to give households on Council Tax Support £150 towards their bill

From Brent Council

Today Brent Council is implementing a scheme that will provide over 7,000 households in need of emergency financial support with a one-off payment of £150 towards their Council Tax bill.

The credits will be made to accounts of working-age Council Tax payers who are eligible for Brent’s Council Tax Support scheme. The emergency funding will also apply to eligible new claims made for Council Tax Support from 1 April 2020 until 31 March 2021.

These households will shortly receive an updated Council Tax bill, showing reductions in payments totalling £1.3 million.

The money that enables the council to do this was made available by the Government and is ring-fenced for this purpose.

Councillor Eleanor Southwood, Brent Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Welfare Reform, said:

Households across Brent have been hit extremely hard by this pandemic. Already, over 750 additional households have joined Brent’s Council Tax Support scheme, which just goes to show that money is a big worry for lots of people at the moment.”

This Government grant makes it possible for us to help out that little bit more. The economic and emotional costs of the pandemic are huge and growing and I look forward to working with the Government to find other ways to support Brent’s residents.”

The Coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on the deep rooted economic insecurity and inequalities our residents face. Earlier this year, I launched an independent Poverty Commission and, through this work, we are exploring what else needs to change to make a difference.”

I also want to reassure all residents that if your circumstances have changed or if you’re struggling and you need financial support, please look to us for help – visit our website or get in touch and we’ll let you know what options are available to you.

Visit our website for more information about the financial support available to residents during the Coronavirus outbreak or to apply for the Council Tax Support Scheme.

UPDATE: Cuts of £7m and Council Tax rise of 3.99% approved by Brent Council

UPDATE: Budget and Council Tax rise approved with 4 against and 2 abstentions

In the early days of austerity and government cuts to local authorities there were protests at Brent Town Hall and later at the £100m Civic Centre.  These days 'savings' (which are often direct cuts in services or reconfiguration of existing services to save money) go through with little protest.

Tonight £7m will be wiped off the budget with Community and Wellbeing facing 'savings' of £4.2m  and Children and Young People £1.6m).  The latter includes £1.5m saved by closing some Children's Centre and creating hubs instead.  Savings are to be made in Adult Social Care and Day Care commissioning although there are questions over whether this can be delivered without providers withdrawing from the market.

Council Tax will be raised by 3.99%.

The Council Tax Setting and Budget Setting meeting started at 6pm and is live-streamed
 

Cuts of £30m in Brent budget likely 2019-21

The Finance Report going before Cabinet this afternoon LINK looks towards the 2020 cliff edge when local government no longer gets a direct central government grant.

 The report looks at the cost pressures above and quotes the Audit Commission: 

“The current trajectory for local government is towards a narrow core offer increasingly centred on social care. This is the default outcome of sustained increases in demand for social care and of tightening resources”

The report notes that currently one third of the Council budget goes towards social care but that the government is publishing a green paper on social care funding and integration with the NHS in the autumn. The implications of this for the council budget are unclear and thus not included in the report.

Brent Council has made £164,000,000 'savings' since 2010 and the forecast is that another £30m will need to be cut from the budget between 2019-20 and 2020-21, £29m from general services and £1.3m from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).

The report notes that because of uncertainties over government policy this figure only has +/-20% accuracy. More accurate figures will not be known for a year.

The officers' assume a council tax rise of 4% annually, 2% general cash funding and 2% for adult social care but note that last year a rise of 5% was allowed. CIPFA suggest that the 2018-19 council tax rise may be the biggest for 14 years.

In addition the council may also make further increases in the cost of non-statutory services provided to the public and continue to seek other  revenue raising opportunities such as selling advertising space on its buildings.

However the main source of funding in the future will be council tax and business rates.  Brent is estimated to receive £7m from the pilot 100% Business Rate Retention Pool in 2018-19 but the rate will be 75% through the Fair Funding Review and 25% in specific grants in 2020-21.

One option that Brent Council has been following is to seek to increase its council tax and business rate base - more people paying into the pot and this is particularly evident through the new housing approved in specific areas of the borough. If the new occupants are young and without children this results in increased income without much additional strain on services.

The council estimates the council tax base to increase by 2.5% a year which will be reviewed and refined as part of the financial planning process. They claim that it is harder to forecast the business rate base because of the impact of appeals (which can take a considerable time to be resolved by the VOA) and because it is more directly impacted by broader changes in the economy. They are currently working to a figure of 2% in 2019-20 but have not anything beyond that due to the forecasting difficulties.

In terms of the private student accommodation springing up around the borough, that yields little, because property is exempt if everyone living there fulls into one of several categories including full-time college or university students and 18 or 19 year-olds in full time education.

Brent Council Tax to rise by £71 to £1,496.54 for Band D

The Cabinet will approve a 5.01% Council Tax rise at Monday's Meeting will is expected to be rubber-stamped by Full Council.  The report going before Cabinet states:

The provisional local government finance settlement unexpectedly increased the ‘referendum limit’ for council tax from two to three per cent and, like last year, the Government’s financing assumption was that all councils would act on this. The rules on increasing council tax for the social care precept were unchanged. This means that the council could choose to increase council tax by up to 5% in 2018/19 without the need for a referendum, of which 2% would be ring-fenced for adult social care (the social care precept). The previous intention was to raise council tax by 4% in 2018/19, which at the time of the February 2017 Council report was the maximum permitted by the legislation. 


Taking into account the inflationary pressures that the council is subject to (which Ministers have confirmed were a significant factor in their decision to increase the referendum limit), the financial position in the round and the results of consultation through the Brent Connects and other meetings held by the date of despatch of this report leading Members have instructed officers to prepare the budget on the basis of a 4.99% increase in the Brent element of the council tax. The Mayor of London has announced plans for an increase in his precept of 5.07% (slightly different rules on the limits for the GLA apply due to its role as the police authority) making the overall increase in council tax 5.01%. This equates to £1,496.54 at Band D, or the equivalent of £28.78 per week, and the overall increase equates to £1.37 per week.  


The Council's Budget Counsultation via Brent Connects Meetings drew a very thin response, not helped by being conducted in the winter months. Only 114 residents attended in total and only one business association  responded according to the briefing just posted on the Council's website:

Five consultation events were planned between January and February 2018 at locations throughout the borough. At the date of the Cabinet meeting on 12 February 2018 four out of five meetings were held and had the following levels of attendance: 

Date	Location	Attendance
17 January	Brent Connects Wembley	27
30 January	Brent Connects Kilburn	23
6 February	Brent Connects Willesden	44
8 February	Brent Connects Kingsbury & Kenton	20
19 February	Brent Connects Harlesden

  

1.2  At the four meetings attended at the time of dispatch either the Leader or Deputy Leader of the Council delivered a presentation outlining the overall financial position and the difficult budget choices faced by the Council. The Leader then took questions from the audience and provided answers, supported by senior officers where appropriate for matters of technical detail. 


1.3  Feedback and opinions offered from these events varied considerably. As an example of the range of opinions expressed: 

 One resident asked how the proposals affect Brent’s Council Tax Support Scheme. The question was answered at the meeting, that the scheme will not be changing. 
                              

One resident asked if the proposals have impacted on school performance. The question was answered at the meeting, that 96% of schools in Brent are good or outstanding. 


 Other points raised were generally questions of clarification rather than specific feedback on the budget proposals. For example, one resident made a statement of support for the funding provided to families with no recourse to public funds, whereas another asked about the budget used to support people with dementia. 


 A number of queries were raised about the council’s reserves and how we compare to other London Boroughs, which were answered at the meeting. The Council has relatively low reserves compared to other London boroughs but current level is deemed adequate. 
  

1.4  Feedback and views from the final meeting to be held on 19 February 2018 will be provided for the Full Council meeting on 26 February 2018.


Business Consultation

1.5  Consultation with local Brent businesses was carried out by writing to the following organisations:

                  West London Business (a non-profit business leadership forum),

                 The Federation of Small Businesses, 


                 The Town Centre Business Association, and 


                 The Business Board. 


1.6  At the date of dispatch one response was received, which asked for further clarification on the budget setting process rather than a specific comment on the budget proposal.

Task Group put forward ideas on Brent's 2017-18 budget

Brent's 2017-18 budget comes under scrutiny at the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday January 9th. The Task Group's report appears to have been written before the Communities Secretary's announcement that larger local authorities could raise Council Tax by 5.99% in 2017-18 if 3% was earmarked for social care services. At present the Council intends to raise the tax by 2.99% - the maximum previously allowed without a referendum.

The Task Group, on the basis that the 2017-18 was largely decided last year, makes a number of recommendations on a longer term basis:

1.   Brent should dedicate some time and intellectual space to mapping out the potential consequences of Brexit for the borough, particularly in the areas of population, housing and manufacturing exports. 

2.   Brent should advocate a form of sub regional investment for the “strategic investment pot” produced in the London business rates pool, if the arrangement becomes permanent. The West London Alliance could deliver investment in our region of London. 

3.    The criteria Brent should adopt for strategic investment are as follows:

    ·      That the capital investment should have a spend to save rationale, and, in some way,      reduce Brent’s anticipated revenue spending in forthcoming years. 


    ·      That the investment aligns with the Council’s political priorities. 


    ·      That the investment should represent a sound long-term financial 
decision. 


    ·      That the money spent makes a significant positive impact on the lives of the most vulnerable  in Brent. 

4.   Brent should leave no stone unturned in attempts to grow the local private sector. Two ideas it should specifically look at are appointing a business champion and using the procurement system to support local businesses. 

5.   A report on progress in delivery of the new sexual health services for the borough should come before Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny in six months’ time. 

6.   The Council should always give due consideration to ensuring a geographical spread when strategically purchasing property. 

7.   The Council should set a target to keep bulky waste collection requests low in order to reduce costs and the amount of materials finding their way into landfill. 


8.   The special collection service page of the Brent website should be re- designed to give maximum exposure to alternative and sustainable options which residents can use to dispose of bulky waste, particularly charity retailers in the borough. Helpline staff should also be trained to offer alternative options in the first instance. 


9.  The Council should look to develop sustainable ways for people to dispose of mid-sized waste items as a way of reducing illegal rubbish dumping.   

        

10.  A report should be sent to the appropriate scrutiny committee in twelve months’ time, demonstrating how the change of contract due in July 2018 affects parking enforcement in the latter half of 2018. 


11.  The Council should look into the possibility of hiring an external partner to find more advertising space in the borough on a no-win no-fee basis.

 


12.  A review of pavement licencing in Brent should be carried out to see how much we could generate from this source. This should take particular account of price and enforcement. 


Brexit could reduce the population of Brent as EU citizens return home and thus reduce the Council Tax base as well as impact on local industry, particularly building, and reduce the number of pupils in local schools, creating falling school rolls.

The Task Group go into the issue of Business Rates in some detail as this is likely to be a major source of income in the future.  For a trial period there will be a pool system for London boroughs, the 'London Investment pot' led by the City of London, to distribute the monies. At the commencement there will be a one-off windfall of approximately £4.9 million for the borough and the Task Group suggest:

One potential investment which would meet these criteria (see 3 above) would be the building or purchase of more properties for use as temporary accommodation. The Council currently spends significant sums on rents in the private sector for those in Brent who are homeless. Running more of our own properties would reduce this annual revenue cost as per our criteria above. 
The properties would also not be subject to Right-to-Buy legislation which currently makes it so difficult for local authorities to build true social housing, as they cannot hedge their investment over a long period of time, knowing that 
they may be forced to sell any of their properties at a rate below market value just three years after building it. This idea would also have a clear advantage for the most vulnerable people in our borough.

 The Task Group acknowledge that the Council's initiative to raise cash through selling advertising space on its buildings has had very limited success, raising only £62k rather than the £300k anticipated. They advocate the Council fund an external partner to seek out such space.

The Task Group note that many Brent residents do not have cars and recommend that the Council introduce collection points for recycling mid-range  range goods. The Recycling Centre is not accessible by pedestrians:

One recommendation that may be controversial is 12 above. The Task Group remark that there is a lack of enforcement on shops and bars that spill displays and tables out into pavement space and suggest that income could be generated through a pavement licensing system. Businesses on streets such as Ealing Road and Kingsbury Road would be particularly affected.

Brent Council's projected financial position worsens. Another 3.99% rise in Council Tax next year.

Brent Council expects its financial position to be worse than expected in 2019/21 as a result of the borough's  tax base slowing from an expected growth of 4.4% to 2.5%.  Although finance officers describe the financial situation for local government as 'inherently uncertain'  at +/-20% due to a lack of clear national direction, this would mean cuts/increase in charges increase of  £19m rather than the previously expected £13m in 2019/20 and 11m in 2020/21.

The incoming administration after the May2018 elections would need to start working on the 2019/20 budget in Autumn 2018.

The 2018-19 budget will be as consulted on as part of the 2017 process with cuts and service price increases of £12.9m already published. (Details HERE)

The Council proposes a further 3.99% increase in Council Tax bringing the total for Band D to  £1470.87

Brent Council opens consultation on 2017-18 budget: including cuts and council tax rise

Brent Council has issued the following press release on its budget consultation - printed here unedited.

 Six years of cuts by central government to local authority budgets across the UK has meant Brent Council has needed to find new ways to maintain services, with some difficult decisions made along the way.

Despite growing demand for local services from an increasing and ageing population, the funding that Brent Council receives from the Government is set to fall even further.

Rather than cut vital services, which residents rely on, the council is conducting a ten-week consultation on its budget proposals which includes a rise in council tax by 3.99 percent to help plug the gap left by the government's cuts.

"Imagine your household bills went up every year, but your salary kept being cut. You would have to make some tough choices and find new ways to make your money go further," says Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council.

As well as showing how the council plans to raise income to balance the books the budget details spending plans for 2017/18.

Key areas include everything from investment in making Brent cleaner and safer, rubbish and recycling collection, boosting jobs and skills to protecting the vulnerable, increasing council housing, maintaining parks and open spaces and giving every child the best start in life.

"In recent years, we've taken steps to make sure that Brent Council is as efficient and cost-effective as possible. At the same time, we've worked hard to ensure the services that our residents rely on are protected.

"It is vital that the work we do as a Council reflects the priorities of our residents. That's we are asking the people of Brent to tell us what matters to them. I would encourage as many people as possible to visit the website, or join us at their local Brent Connects meetings taking place at the start of next year."

Have your say online by 1 February 2017 or come along to one of the Brent Connects public meetings in January or February 2017.

Views taken at the Willesden and the Kingsbury and Kenton Brent Connects meetings, after the consultation portal has closed, will be added as an appendix to the Cabinet report and considered on Monday 13 February 2017 at the Cabinet meeting.

Full Council will then make a decision on the final budget for 2017/18 on Monday 27 February 2017.

Brent Council Tax set to rise by 3.99% in 2017-18 and 2018-19

This is the official Decision Minute of Monday's Brent Cabinet meeting:

Budget Proposals 2017/18 – 2018/19 PDF 299 KB

• View the background to item 6.
• View the decision for item 6.

This report sets out draft budget proposals for 2017/18 and 2018/19.  Subject to the results of consultation it is envisaged that these would then form the basis of the budget to be agreed at the Full Council meeting of February 2017.

Additional documents:

• Appendix One - Previously Agreed Savings , item 6. HTM 2 KB
• Appendix Two - Summary of New Policy Proposals , item 6. HTM 2 KB
• Appendix Three - Detailed New Policy Options , item 6. PDF 159 KB

Decision:

1.    Cabinet noted the overall financial position.

2.    Cabinet endorsed the savings previously agreed, as set out in Appendix One.

3.    Cabinet agreed to consult on new draft policy options, as summarised in Appendix two and detailed in Appendix Three.

4.    Cabinet agreed to consult on council tax increases of 3.99% in each of 2017/18 and 2018/19.

5.    Cabinet endorsed the technical assumptions underpinning the budget as set out throughout the report.

6.    Cabinet authorised the drawdown of further capital resources to support delivery of the temporary accommodation reform plan, as set out on paragraph 6.7.

Brent Council's Financial Position Briefing Note

Further to my coverage LINK LINK on the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) freeze and the associated Efficiency Plan, this is the briefing note sent to Labour councillors and opposition leads by the Labour leadership. You will see that the 'minimal controversy' position is based on a 4% Council Tax rise in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Briefing note

Summary financial position

August 2016

1.     Brent council is in a good financial position.  Compared to previous years, the decisions required to balance the budget for the next two years may be less difficult than previously.  New savings of £16.4m over 2017/18 and 2018/19 are required.  It is recommended that all of the proposals required to achieve this are agreed at the February 2017 budget meeting.

2.     Council tax can now be increased by up to 4% each year.  The previous financial incentives to freeze council tax have been withdrawn.  Each 1% increase in council tax yields an extra £1m in income so approximately half of the savings target could be met through council tax rises. 

3.     Officers propose to publish draft budget proposals in October.  It is anticipated that proposals more than sufficient to balance the budget could be published, provided that council tax increases of 4% in 2017/18 and 2018/19 were to be agreed.  This would enable meaningful choices to be made through the ensuing consultation process.  Most, though not all, of these proposals would reflect efficiencies in service delivery, minimising the amount of controversial proposals.  If council tax increases were not to be agreed then more challenging decisions about services would have to be confronted.

4.     It will be necessary to look at charges for services as part of the civic enterprise strategy and the planned work on parking policy and therefore potentially charging must also be considered.  Officers are not suggesting that the entire budget for 2017/18 and 2018/19 can be balanced with council tax rises and no other contentious decisions about services.  However, the quantity and scale of such decisions could be minimised.

5.     To achieve this the council must ensure that there are no structural overspends in its current budget.  Significant service pressures will need to be managed down by the end of the financial year if this budget strategy is to be delivered.  Significant savings for 2017/18 and 2018/19, agreed as part of the budget set in February 2016, will also need to be delivered.  Some, such as from procurement (£8m) and civic enterprise (£2.5m), may be managerially challenging, as we have not targeted savings of this scale in this way before.

6.     More widely, the Chancellor has indicated that economic policy will be “reset” in the autumn statement.  It is not clear what the implications of this may be for local government, or the wider economy, and updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

7.     Business rates devolution, we presume, will go ahead as planned.  DCLG is currently consulting on some of the details of this so it is not possible to provide a comprehensive update.  However, it is important to stress that the national tax take from business rates is already greater than the DCLG settlement payments to local government.  This gap will get larger by 2020 as local government grants fall.

8.     Business rates devolution will mean that local authorities receive more income than they do now.  Whitehall will therefore devolve more services to local government and require us to pay for them.  This could be cost neutral, with the cost of the services devolved being equal to the extra income received.  However, in practice this may lead to cost pressures.

9.     The choice of which services are devolved is critical.  Local government would want these to be those that could be integrated effectively with existing services, leading to improved outcomes and financial efficiencies.  This devolution could also be different in different parts of the country, especially as the business rates take in London is disproportionately high.

10.  Further updates will be brought as the position becomes clearer.

Brent Council's financial decisions 2016-2020 deserve wider debate

The Brent Cabinet on September 13th will be receiving a report on the Council's financial position which forms the backdrop to decisions on the possible fixing of the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) for 4 years and the level of Council Tax for the period 2016-2020.

Changes in funding means that the Council will be facing a reduction in income despite an increase in cost pressures and will have a cumulative budget gap of £31m by 2019/20.  Local government financing is due a major restructuring after that date.

If Council Tax is increased by 3.99% a year the gap will be reduced:

Budget proposals are formulated from October onwards but the Cabinet is being asked to delegate a vital decision to Brent's  CEO Carolyn Downs in consultation with Muhammed Butt, Brent Council leader, over the next few weeks because the Government's deadline expires before the next Cabinet meeting.

The report outlines the Government's offer:

As part of last year's local government finance settlement councils were given the option of fixing their future RSG allocations until 2020. In principle this could address one key concern that the local government sector has highlighted for a number of years: the difficulty of long-term financial planning when key items of income are only determined annually. 


In order to take advantage of this the council would need to make a decision on the four year settlement option by 14 October 2016 and write formally to DCLG on this. As part of this it would need to present an efficiency plan; central government have indicated that this should not be an onerous document, and can be based on the council’s medium term financial plan. 


This is not a straightforward decision: it is a decision about risk management, and whether accepting or declining the settlement offers the better path for the council to manage its risks. DCLG have set out considerable emphasis that a four year fix is exactly that: it sets RSG until 2020 regardless of what may happen with the economy or other government decisions. Of course, legally, government cannot bind future Parliaments, and so it would technically be possible for the DCLG to reopen the settlement even for those councils that chose to fix their RSG. 


Accepting the four year settlement would give the council more certainty of future funding. This makes financial planning and communication much simpler, and significantly reduces the potential volatility in the system. This creates obvious arguments for accepting the fix, as it will aid the council's budgeting process and hence the quality of decision making. It would also clearly shift the focus onto those sources of funding that the council can influence and control. 


It is not only the decision in principle that has to be made by Butt and Downs but an 'efficiency plan' submitted that will dictate the level of savings (cuts, 'efficiencies' and income generation) over the next four years.

These are major decisions and I do not understand why the Cabinet cannot convene a special meeting before the deadline to consider Downs' proposal and efficiency plan. The wider Labour Group as well as the opposition seem to have been left out of the process completely but their hands will be tied for the next four years by these decisions.

Further. the report discusses at length the various borrowing options open to the Council and calls for Conrad Hall, (the report's author), who is Brent's Chief Finance Officer to be delegated the decision on the hiring of financial advisers in consultation with the Deputy Leader, Margaret McLennan:

The traditional way for councils to borrow money for routine capital investment is to borrow money from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB). However, given the scale of funds the council is planning to borrow there are potentially options that will come in at lower cost than the PWLB, such as issuing bonds that would be available for pension funds to buy, loans from the European Investment Bank (which may still be available after Brexit), or the Municipal Bonds Agency. This list is not exhaustive. 


Evaluating these options is complex, and requires specialist skills. In particular the skills to evaluate not just the headline rate, but also the price the costs of any differences in risk assumed by the council under different circumstances. In addition with any variable rate product, it will be necessary to consider a variety of scenarios to understand under what scenarios the council would benefit from a particular product, and under what scenarios it would lose out from a particular product. 


Further, it could be that the best approach for the council is to offset the risks and benefits of different products available to council, and this approach could be more advantageous than choosing a single, simple product. Alternatively, a single simple product may be more advantageous than more products and the complexity involved. 


The council has the skills and expertise to client advisers for such activity, but it would be unwise to enter into such significant long term commitments without taking proper professional advice. The cost of such advice is not yet known, but is often expressed as a function of the total borrowing requirement. As stated above, this is already known to exceed £100m and, depending on what else the council wants to build into its capital plans, could potentially be much higher than this. 


Owing to the highly technical nature of the advice it is therefore proposed to delegate to the chief finance officer, in consultation with the deputy leader, authority to procure and appoint the necessary advisers. Any decision on the structure of the actual borrowing will of course come back to cabinet for approval. 


The full report covers much more ground very throughly and is available HERE