Like many councils, Dorset Council has taken a big financial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. We estimate that the total impact on the council’s budget is around £64m.
The pandemic has resulted in additional expenditure responding to increased demand for social care for adults and children, extra PPE for employees, and support for people who were shielding (such as food and medicine deliveries and a dedicated helpline).
Lost income from suspension of car parking charges, closure of leisure centres and other commercial services, and lower than anticipated income from business rates and council tax has also affected us.
In response, the government has provided extra funding totalling £23.7m to support the council’s budget pressures as a result of COVID-19.
This still leaves a gap of around £40m this financial year (2020-21) so we will be forced to use our reserves to cover this.
However, reserves can only be spent once. So for next financial year (2021-22) we
will be looking to reduce the cost of how we deliver services. And we continue
to lobby government, directly with government minsters and via Dorset MPs, for the funding we need to serve the people of Dorset.
Councillor Gary Suttle, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercial and Capital Strategy, said:
“The council was on track deliver a balance budget for this financial year, with expenditure in line with income. Unfortunately, the impact of COVID-19 has hit us hard financially. We are grateful to the government for their additional support this year to help with the budget gap caused by COVID-19 but it isn’t enough to fully cover the cost. We are working hard to manage our budget gap over the coming months but there will be difficult decisions ahead.”
What is Dorset Council’s budget spent on?
(Shown in £millions)
| Adult social care | £120 |
| Children’s social care | £52.2 |
| Street cleaning, waste collection and disposal |
£30.2 |
| Travel | £13 |
| Education and learning | £13 |
| Commissioning and partnerships | £8.8 |
| Customer services, libraries and archives |
£7 |
| Environment and wellbeing | £5.6 |
| Highways and parking | £4.5 |
| Communities and Public Health | £4 |
| Planning | £3.1 |
| Properties | £3.1 |
| Housing | £3 |
| Supporting businesses and creating jobs |
£0.9 |
| Other services* | £35.6 |
| Total | £304 |
*Teams which support frontline services (including Revenues & Benefits, Finance, Procurement, Human Resources, IT, Legal and Democratic Services)
Where the council’s funding comes from
| Council tax £252m The money we receive from our residents to pay for the services we provide |
| Retained business rates £47m The money we receive from businesses such as shops, offices, hotels and factories, to pay for the services we provide |
| Other £5m A number of smaller, specific grants such as the Rural Services Delivery Grant and New Homes Bonus |
| Revenue Support Grant – £0m We no longer receive any funding from central government in the form of revenue support grant |
