2 March - It was all about the money
There was another Cabinet meeting in Bexley last Monday which
according to the Chairman boasted a lonely member of the public in the
audience. It wasn’t me. As usual the subject was the difficult financial
situation; an hour and fifty minutes of it.
For the period October to December last year the Council had spent £3·9 million
more than it bargained for. Expenditure has reduced a little since then but the
constant rise in the number of EHC Plans is unwelcome. Bad debts (excluding
parking) stand at £281,000 and not part of the £3·9 million. Capital
expenditure is down, mainly in the Places Directorate and there may be more slippage before April.
Cabinet Member Leaf said with commendable brevity that “the challenges and pressures are significant”.
A cheeky Stefano Borella (Labour Leader) asked when the Council was last showing
a break even position. After a period of silence the Leader responded with a
“not sure but it might be two years ago”. Stefano said he believed it was in
August 2022. Councillor Leaf who knows everything said the Council last came in under budget three years ago.
The Leader regretted having to propose a 4·99% Council Tax increase for 2025/26
and the National Insurance increase imposed by Rachel Reeves has had an impact
on that. There has been some mitigation from Government for this year and some
Councils were given extra, but not Bexley. The mitigation will not be forthcoming next year.
Caroline Holland the much praised outgoing Director of Finance said the budget
is balanced this year but there are widening gaps over the next four. £43·9
million by 2028/29 assuming no changes to present day support etc.
The Council recently borrowed £10 million, something that
was always expected and the interest rates were favourable. The Dedicated Schools Grant is of
particular concern. If the override is not extended before the end of the
forthcoming financial year, the deficit of £17·406 million will exceed the
Council’s reserves. EHCP requests now arrive constantly and not just at the
beginning of term as used to be the case, They represent one of Bexley’s biggest
risks and a lot of Councils are in the same boat.
Cabinet Member David Leaf then set out on one of his marathon speeches which
went on for 36 minutes. I found it interesting when listening live but something
of that length merits a report of its own. Cabinet Member’s Cafer Munur
and Melvyn Seymour presented more manageable reports.
Cafer said that getting people into work is his priority
as it not only saves money but improves health and wellbeing. 829 residents are
currently in his back to work program and now he has a new one called Trail
Blazers. It will run for a year targeting single parents, ex-offenders,
care leavers and people with low level of skills and will
offer training and in-work support. A strong relationship with local businesses has been established.
Councillor Seymour said the pressure on hospital discharge funding remained. It
is expected to rise by another 10% in the coming year but no information on
Government funding is yet available. The biggest spend is on domiciliary care
but dementia support is creeping up. The Government deciding not to exempt care
providers from the NIC increases will have a massive impact on costs. As a
direct result of that policy residents will be paying more.
38,000 pensioners in Bexley had their Winter Fuel Allowance removed “by this
cruel Government” which was countered by the Bexley Box scheme organised in
conjunction with Age UK and assisted by Conservative Councillors. Labour
boycotted the scheme. “Millions of people across the country had their quality
of life degraded. Reprehensible.”