Dorset Council has agreed to increase its budget for financial year 2021-22 to just under £313m (from £304m the year before).
This budget funds all services the council provides to residents, communities and businesses throughout the year. The increase in budget is needed to fund the cost of responding to the coronavirus pandemic, the growing need for social care within the Dorset population, and inflation.
Councillors agreed to increase general council tax next year by just under 2% and to levy the adult social care precept of just under 3% – in line with the Government’s Spending Review. This would equate to £1.62 extra a week for a Band D property.
The budget proposals for 2021-22 also include an assumption of a 0% pay award for council staff. The Chancellor’s Spending Review last year announced that public sector pay would be “paused”. While central government has no formal role in deciding local government pay, which is negotiated nationally by employers with trade unions, it is likely that local government pay will follow suit.
The council also agreed a number of tactical and transformational savings which aim to improve efficiency and protect frontline services.
The council is required by law to set a balanced budget – in other words, expenditure must be balanced by income. This year’s budget setting exercise takes place against a continuing national background of extreme financial pressure for councils resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
The council’s COVID-19 response has resulted in additional expenditure for things like support for vulnerable residents, PPE, COVID-secure arrangements, and lost income for things like car parking, leisure services, business rates and council tax.
Following extensive lobbying by Dorset councillors and MPs, the Government has provided significant funding for these additional costs and loss of income, though not enough to cover the full impact. There is a high level of uncertainty about future cost pressures, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and also uncertainty resulting from the UK’s exit from the EU.
Like most councils across the country, Dorset Council also faces significant budget pressures from the growing need for social care, with an ageing population.
These budget proposals for 2021-22 were discussed at two council Scrutiny committees in December, and at Cabinet in January.
Cllr Gary Suttle, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercial and Capital Strategy, said:
“It has been particularly challenging developing the budget for next financial year, 2021-22, due to the high level of uncertainty caused by the COVID pandemic. COVID has had a massive impact on our communities and our budget this year and this is likely to continue over the coming months.
“We developed proposals that will deliver a balanced budget, but it has not been easy and it is with a heavy heart that we have had to increase council tax increase. We understand that many residents and local businesses have been hit financially by the pandemic, and there will be support available for the hardest hit. The budget assumption of a pay freeze for staff is also made with a heavy heart when we are keenly aware how hard staff have worked for many months.
“These are tough choices, but we have to find ways to fund the support for communities through the pandemic and the ever-growing need among our residents for social care services. We continue to lobby the Government for further funding and we will endeavour to protect the vital council services on which so many residents rely.”
Given how many people in the private sector have lost their jobs and are now surviving on benefits, perhaps lost their house as well as their job, or if a small trader or shopkeeper perhaps lost everything, I do hope that council staff and public sector employees will understand how lucky they are, with their guaranteed salaries and guaranteed pensions as well. Please may we have no more whining.
Hi Alan. Thanks for your comments. We continue to do everything we can to support local residents, covid related or other. There is a real depth and breadth of services that the council can support you or people you know through hardship. Lots of info can be found here, I hope you find it helpful. https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/emergencies-severe-weather/emergencies/coronavirus/coronavirus-covid-19.aspx
Best wishes.
Alex
Interesting that these unpopular announcements are made only after local elections. You are right to assume that a pay freeze for employees and that a rise in Council tax will not be popular. We need some facts and figures: demands on social care over the last eighteen months and for some time in the future will surely have fallen with families taking up the strain with a reduction in the numbers of people being offered a service and the unfortunate deaths of many who would normally been helped. Staff will have been working at home and schools and other facilities such as swimming pools will have been closed, giving savings in running costs. My care home is half empty as an example.
I look forward to hearing about the savings made over the last eighteen months.
The proposed increase in council tax is outrageous. Most people are on furlough and cannot afford the rise, neither can pensioners. Try cutting back on council staff and give us all a chance.
Hi Tim. I appreciate this isn’t an easy story to read. We believe that Dorset Council’s funding from Government is insufficient for the services needed by our residents. Many other wealthier councils continue to receive Revenue Support Grant (RSG) from Government, but Dorset Council no longer does. We also get less income from business rates than councils in more urban areas.
We understand that the past year has been a challenging time financially for some of our residents. If you have faced redundancy or other financial hardship as a result of the pandemic and are struggling to pay your bills, you may be eligible for Council Tax Support – visit our website for details on how to apply, search for ‘Council Tax Support’.
Why doesn’t Dorset get any RSG. Since we appear to have higher levels of social need and retired people the council should be vigorously lobbying the government for help. It has helped Eastbourne so why not Dorset, especially since the Dorset Council area does not have the benefit of much income from Businesses with a largely rural low wage economy in North Dorset.
Well, is it too obvious to say that if wealthier councils are getting RSG when Dorset is not, then we should have our local MPs (mostly of the ruling party) lobby central government strongly to correct that? If they will not, then they need to be replaced as not representing their constituents’ wishes. It is not good enough to conclude that if central government will not do what is fair, then simply to impose increases on already hard hit residents is the only solution. Stop taking the easy route and show some spine.
Hi Pamal. The council and the local MPs continue to lobby government. If you want more details on this, I suggest you write to your local councillor and/or MP to find out about the issues that matter to you. Thanks, Alex.
Savings could be increased by more outsourcing of services particularly in home care and residential care. The Authority should consider becoming a commissioning and purchasing authority solely and should reduce the scale of its direct provision across all sectors. Until it does so dupirectly provided service will cost more. QED!
Outsourced services cost less because they provide less. So called “innovation” usually means lower wages, reduced staff benefits and reduced visit times for home care. Direct provision provides better control of the services and reduced bureaucracy from repeated tendering activity.
Disagree with this completely. outsourced work has to pay for an element of profit which goes into someone’s pocket and reduced the amount of service provided. In-house supported projects can spend every penny on the service provided.
Yet another increase proposed to our already sky high council tax when it is already almost the highest in the country in Gillingham/North Dorset.
The council has committed large expenditure to the purchase of St Mary’s school in Shaftesbury with no actual plan for it’s use. It has also wasted millions on the “upgrade” of Le Neuberg road in Gillingham with a cycle path that nobody uses and is tearing up all the paths in the high street to replace them with black tarmac allegedly to smarten up the area. If they can find the money for this then at a time when so many people are struggling due to the pandemic there should be a negative budget. Dorset Council is behaving as though there the population is bottomless money pit.
Hi
Dorset Council is continually working to improve its efficiency and make savings. Councillors are keen to avoid cutting the services residents and businesses receive, so we have to look at ways of providing those services more efficiently and effectively.
The demand for certain services is continually increasing due to the impact of the COVID pandemic and due to the changing profile of our local population:
1) The COVID pandemic has led to increased need for adult social care, housing services, mental health services, education and therapy services, and much more.
2) Dorset has significantly more older people than many other areas of the country: 29% are aged over 65 compared to 18% in England and 12% in London. An older population requires more adult social care support. Every year, Dorset also sees growing numbers of children diagnosed with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The council has a legal duty to provide those services: we can’t turn people in need away because we can’t afford it. This leaves no choice but to increase council tax to generate the income required to fund these vital services.
Dorset Council tax – is the increase for next year 2% or 5%,? have BPC council decided to freeze their council tax ?
My Dorset Band E Council Tax rises each year by about 5.5%, outstripping State Pension. Council Tax Currently £269 p/m. At this rate the council tax will eat up all of the state pension in 20 years or so. That’s not considering other bills to pay and food. It’s out of control.
Hi William. We understand that the past year has been a challenging time financially for some of our residents. If you have faced redundancy or other financial hardship as a result of the pandemic and are struggling to pay your bills, you may be eligible for Council Tax Support – visit our website for details on how to apply, search for ‘Council Tax Support’.
We also fund Dorset Citizens Advice to provide support and advice to residents who are experiencing financial difficulties or are feeling stressed or worried. Call freephone 0800 144 8848.
Thanks, Alex.
You are not listening. As William Dennick says – with increases of 5% each year, council tax will take all the state pension within a generation. You have to find ways of only increasing council tax by inflation – it should only go up, by law, by the same amount as the state pension.
You say that this year you have special demands because of the virus. What was the excuse last year for the 5% rise. Next year, assuming the virus is behind us, will we see a fall in council tax? No, of course we won’t. You will ‘bank’ the current council tax level then and keep on increasing it.
So you are raising council tax and then suggesting we claim relief from the council if we can’t manage. Surely not cost effective from a financial point of view.
Our village has no street lighting..no cost. The council charges to take green garden waste away unlike many other councils.
Volunteers run the library. Volunteers keep the street clean of rubbish through the summer months. And then I watch two council workers spend more than two hours to take out a three foot pole by the side of the road, that the council painted two weeks previously, and put in another unpainted one in its place.! We are not all made of money and should not need to go cap in hand to the council.
Hi Val. Not sure what you mean by “not cost effective” – we don’t expect everyone to come forward and claim relief and it will only be available to those who are truly struggling. We don’t want anyone to suffer to pay their council taxes. As the article explains, we have to set a balanced budget that forecasts expenditure and then looks to how we can raise the money in order to satisfy that forecast. It’s not an easy task. Many villages don’t have street lighting, but council tax isn’t a personal use tax, it’s based on the value of your home. If you have a complaint for a service, please do let us know. https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/your-council/comments-compliments-and-complaints.aspx Best wishes, Alex.
Totally agree
Totally agree! These increases are outrageous, consistent hikes with no parallel hikes in pay or pensions. Where will it end? £5000 council tax bills in ten years??
I am disappointed and disturbed that Dorset Council staff are not receiving any pay increase in 2021/22. If increasing pay is unaffordable across the whole council staff how about a 1% increase – to maintain purchasing power and to narrow the gap between higher and lower salaries – for those on the lower pay scales. Are increments being paid to those on incremental scales?
Thank you
You are not listening. As William Dennick says – with increases of 5% each year, council tax will take all the state pension within a generation. You have to find ways of only increasing council tax by inflation – it should only go up, by law, by the same amount as the state pension.
You say that this year you have special demands because of the virus. What was the excuse last year for the 5% rise. Next year, assuming the virus is behind us, will we see a fall in council tax? No, of course we won’t. You will ‘bank’ the current council tax level then and keep on increasing it.
its about time that councils made there assets sweat and work harder,for instance refuse collection could be done over longer days or even weekend working which would save the number of dustcarts needed as they are probably £400,000 each to buy. There must be many ways to save money as council tax is reaching a stupid level and its about time somebody got a firm grip on the matter.
I hope the council officers, as well as the staff, are to get a 0% rise this year.
We all thought and were told that doing away with District Council’s would result in massive savings on premises, staff and buying all thing centrally, well we should have known, sold down the river again.
I suppose that you think that money grows on trees, any increase in our pension for this year and more will be swallowed up in council tax and we still have the police and parish council increase to add, cut your cloth according to width.
Scandalous behaviour.
We live in Abbotsbury no street lighting very rarely see Police inthe village,half the propertys empty most of the year. Its about time second homes pay full council tax and help to keep our council tax down who live here all the time.
Hi Peter. Council tax is billed depending on the value of your house, it is not a personal use tax. If a house is used as a second home, meaning it is furnished and no-one’s sole or main residence, then full council tax is charged on that property. Thanks, Alex.
I totally agree with William Dennick , I also live in a band E property , across the road the properties are band D but because I have a third bedroom _about 12×12 feet- I pay considerably more tax which I consider is not fair.
Also I am not happy about the ridiculous police charge, during the 25 years I have lived here I can only recall seeing ONE policeperson in this close !!
Hi Philip. It is possible to challenge council tax banding. https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/council-tax/bands-and-charges/council-tax-bands-and-charges-202021.aspx Take a look here. Best, Alex.
Thanks for just about taking all the pension rise for this year don’t know where you people think we get the money from.
Hi Brian. We fund Dorset Citizens Advice to provide support and advice to residents who are experiencing financial difficulties or are feeling stressed or worried. Call freephone 0800 144 8848. Thanks, Alex.
With local councils demanding increasing payments close to the maximum permitted annually to cover for its shortfalls in irresponsible budgeting and expenditure is affecting the pockets of all within the community.
This can be seen in a number of areas:
• Sub-standard repairs to roads requiring premature revisits to make good a poor-quality job
• Wasting good money to erect new gate style village name signs along the A350
• Narrowing of roads to create cycle paths that are unused
• Reducing in-house services by outsourcing such as waste collection and management that may have a short-term sweetener cost only to increase disproportionally as years roll on beyond the point of returning to in-house managed
• Continued employment of ‘dead wood’ as internal policies makes it difficult to remove staff
The main solution to increase funding is always to hit the tax payer with close to the maximum permissible yearly, a reduction in the services provided by council and the poor motorist. The latter being hit with video cameras mounted on council vehicles to identify motorists who can be fined and the ever-increasing parking charges in council owned car parks and even extending the hours that these charges apply.
Has anyone in the council who implements these increases ever wondered what results develop from this? Motorists will choose to shop out of town at the larger retail parks where there is ample free parking thus reducing the footfall in towns with the consequence that business and shop owners struggle to pay their rates with no customers or profit. The council then looses out when these establishments permanently close and receive no further income from chargeable rates. In some local areas, a large number of shops are permanently boarded up which will even have an effect on tourism which is a substantial industry for Dorset but who would want to visit or holiday in a ‘ghost town’?
Hi Pete, and thanks for your comments. We appreciate that this is a tough time for everyone and the council has been hit too financially by the pandemic. As the article explains, we have to provide a balanced budget legally and at a time when our income has been severely reduced. If you need support with paying your council tax, please visit https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/benefits/council-tax-support/council-tax-support-apply.aspx
Thanks, Alex
What happened to the savings that were going to be made with the re-organisation of the councils? It seems that money was spent on re-branding but no savings (if there were any) passed back to us council tax payers.
Also when is the review carried out (money already spent) on council tax bands going to be used to implement a more up to date and fairer banding system?
Hi Judy. Thank you for your comments. The reorganisation of councils in Dorset has brought six council workforces into one. This piece of work removed duplicate roles and reviewed service structures and has provided millions of pounds of savings. We are working hard on an ambitious internal transformation programme that will continue to deliver service efficiency, not service cuts. All the money that is saved is ploughed back in to essential council services. We spent no money on rebranding, it was all done in-house. It’s worth checking out the council tax banding pages if you want to know how to look in to a review on your banding. https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/council-tax/bands-and-charges/council-tax-bands-explained.aspx
Best, Alex
It’s very hard to challenge the council tax banding when there are no house prices registered anywhere to find out what the value your property was when the banding was introduced. Those prices registered all started a year or two after.
The council tax has got to a point where it is like a bank loan or a second mortgage. Plus we have to pay for our garden waste which used to be in with the council tax until a few years ago and that also goes up every year!
There is a lot of money wasted by the council and I am working for a company that has a council contract and it’s a real eye opener when those emails come in from the council requesting site visits etc. An awful lot of money is wasted and depts having to “spend” their budget by the end of the financial year, how about saving the surplus budget that’s not been wasted on trivial things and reducing the council tax. They have to spend their budget otherwise they won’t get the same amount the following year is why is wasted to get rid of it..god forbid they have a surplus.
To many over paid staff at the council many of which are “working”from home and probably got a nice sun tan last year as well!
If the Council has been’ hit financially by the pandemic’ how can it justify gifting £10,000 to all residents who own self-catering accommodation regardless of whether they had any bookings? Some of these properties are in the process of being sold, and most have full bookings from 12th April through till September. It would be interesting to know the full cost of these grants to the council. Is part of this funded by the government? There are surely more deserving cases who need financial assistance in these difficult times. Let’s hope that recipients who are already financially secure consider donating some of this money to charity !!!!
If the Council has been’ hit financially by the pandemic’ how can it justify gifting £10,000 to all residents who own self-catering accommodation regardless of whether they had any bookings? Some of these properties are in the process of being sold, and most have full bookings from 12th April through till September. It would be interesting to know the full cost of these grants to the council. Is part of this funded by the government? There are surely more deserving cases who need financial assistance in these difficult times. Let’s hope that recipients who are already financially secure consider donating some of this money to charity !!!!
I would like to know why the Wareham Town Council is getting a huge 24.6% increase this year. That’s way above the highest percentage increase for anything else – even the Council Tax increase is the next highest at 6.5%.
What is the purpose of this enormous increase?
Another interesting feature of this announcement : you mention that increased costs attached to ” uncertainty attached to leaving the EU” ! Another complete nonsense – I thought it was all signed and delivering by now! Slipped that in after Council elections also.
Interesting that these unpopular announcements are made only after local elections. You are right to assume that a pay freeze for employees and that a rise in Council tax will not be popular. We need some facts and figures: demands on social care over the last eighteen months and for some time in the future will surely have fallen with families taking up the strain with a reduction in the numbers of people being offered a service and the unfortunate deaths of many who would normally been helped. Staff will have been working at home and schools and other facilities such as swimming pools will have been closed, giving savings in running costs. My care home is half empty as an example.
I look forward to hearing about the savings made over the last eighteen months.
My apologies, I see that this announcement made in February, I.e. before Council elections, however note that the latest date for comments March 13th (all unfavourable) does this mean that individuals’ notices not yet sent out? If so, many will be unaware of these increases.