Every February, Cardiff Council sets a budget for the next year that details how much money we will be able to spend on each of the services the council provides.
Cardiff Council's budget for 2020/21 is £656m. Schools (£254m) and social services (£182m) make up around 66% of the total budget. The majority (72%) of the council's budget comes through a grant from the Welsh Government, with 28% coming from Council tax.
Alongside the Budget Report the Council also published its:
- Social Services and Schools makes up 66%
Social Services £171m
Schools £241m
- Non-Controllable* £53m
- Capital Finance £50m
-
Other Services** £109m
* Council tax reduction scheme and levies paid to other organisations such as the fire service.
** Including - recycling and waste, highways, street lighting, economic regeneration, libraries, transport.
The amount of funding the Council receives from the Welsh Government will increase by 4.1% (or £18.5m) next year and we are proposing to increase Council tax levels by 4.5%.- Use of reserves £3m
- General Government Funding £445m
- Council Tax £176m
Even though the Council will receive an increase in funding from the Welsh Government, the demand pressure caused by population growth and inequality, allied to cost pressures like inflation, means that the cost of delivering our services continues to rise.
The difference between the anticipated cost of delivering services and the amount of funding the Council expects to receive will need to be found from savings. For 2020/21 this figure is £9.478m.
Income Opportunities
We can utilise our scale and expertise to deliver services for other organisations and customers and thereby generate income, whilst continuing to deliver frontline services for residents. We also need to review prices in line with costs. For 2020/21 the Council will generate £2.205m from income proposals.
Service Change
These savings will be delivered by changing service delivery though measures such as the implementation of agreed new commissioning strategies and operating models across Adults and Children’s Social Services. These would not have an adverse impact on service users. For 2020/21 the Council will find £1.9 million from Service Change proposals. Whilst not all included in the city-wide consultation, some of the service change proposals may require consultation with users of specific services, or will continue with strategies consulted on previously.
Efficiency Savings
These are defined as savings which achieve the same output (or more) for less resource with no significant impact on the resident or customer. For 2020/21 the Council will find £5.373m from efficiencies. This includes a 0.5% efficiency contribution from schools, which equates to £1.207m, and is included in the consultation. Of the £4.166m to be found from non - schools services it is anticipated that £1.081m will be in place before the end of this financial year.
Have your say
The budget consultation closed on the 31st January 2020.