The possibility of rising council tax is going to be the very least of Islanders’ problems in the coming two years, as Isle of Wight council (IWC) papers reveal the true nature of the financial crisis they are being placed in.
As announced by the IWC last week, due to cuts in their funding from the Government – they’ve had to find a whopping £50m of savings in the last five years – the IWC are now faced with needing to find £17m of savings for the next year alone.
Statutory vs Discretionary
The services the council provide are split into two: Statutory – the services that by law they must provide, like safeguarding children; and Discretionary – services they provide as part of making society work, like environmental health.
A list of which service falls into which category has been provided below.
All discretionary services under threat
This extraordinary amount of savings (£17.39m) is more than the total cost of the council’s discretionary services (£12.6m net) – these are services they are not statutorily required to pay for such as; community libraries, coastal management, heritage, leisure centres, planning, environmental health, housing, community learning, public spaces, etc, the list is very long.
A senior source from within County Hall told OnTheWight that even if the IWC slashed all discretionary services in 2016-17, they’d still have to find another £4m to make up the shortfall. This, OnTheWight understands, could be taken from the reserves – which currently stand at £9m.
Recap of what could happen in 2016
So to recap: For the council to meet the Government’s demands in 2016 – IWC would need to cut every Discretionary service and use nearly half their Reserves – just to be able to survive to provide Statutory services.
This doesn’t appear to be about, ‘Are the council handling the money properly?’ – It seems to be the Government just isn’t providing enough money to let the council function.
2017: The position seems impossible
But that’s not all. The Government’s cuts to funding are set to continue, leaving the Island having to have made a total of £27m of savings over two years, by February 2018.
So, if for example, the IWC cuts all discretionary services and forced to take from Reserves to make up the shortfall this year, they would still then have to find another £10m of savings for 2017-18, but where from?
Saying the council is stuck between a rock and a hard place is, as one councillor told OnTheWight, a massive understatement.
Can the public help?
The council are currently asking the public for their views on how they should set the budget.
Frankly, unless there’s a multi-millionaire benefactor in our midsts who is prepared to top up where the government are failing to provide, a public consultation might not help.
That aside, a public meeting to discuss the budget takes place at 6.30pm on 25 January at Medina Theatre. The budget consultation closes on 12 February 2016.
The Full Council will set the council’s budget for 2016/17 on 24 February 2016.
Statutory and Committed Services
These are services the council is legally required to provide (as declared in the council report below):
Adult social care
Capital Financing
Disabled children
Education
Fire and Rescue
Fostering and adoption
Housing Benefits
Other children’s services
Public health
Registrars and Coroners
Safeguarding children
Special Educational Needs
Support service costs to support statutory and committed
services
Waste Contract
Youth offending
Children in need/care
School/college transport
Children’s care
Children’s and Family early help
Youth service
Legal, Committee and Democratic services
Concessionary Fares – national statutory scheme
Highways PFI
Discretionary services
These are services the council provide, but are not legally compelled to (as declared in the council report below):
Archaeology
Archives
Bereavement
Building Control
Coastal management
Community libraries
Consultation and communications
Cowes ferry
Economic Development
Emergency Management
Environmental health, trading standards and licensing
Events
Fairway
Heights Leisure Centre
Housing
Learning and Development
Leisure, Recreation and Public spaces
Medina Leisure Centre
Medina Theatre
Other heritage
Parking
Planning
Public Conveniences
Recreation Grounds and Public Spaces
Roman Villa
Ryde Sports Centre
School Crossing Patrols
Strategic Tourism
Support services to support discretionary services
Westridge Squash
Museums and collection
Parks, Countrywide and Beaches
Libraries
Subsidised and community buses
Supporting People
Buildings and Property
Corporate and summary accounts
Community support officers
Harbours
Commercial leisure activities
Concessionary Fares – Island discretionary scheme
Benefits and council tax administration and collection
Find out more
Full details can be found in the budget papers below. The first paper has a series of appendices at the end of the document which you can click on to see.
