Surrey gets some £24.1 million in transitional funding, yet the sustainability of the Council’s services is still up in the air

Responding to David Hodge’s plea from last week, on 8th February the Government approved transitional funding of £11.9 million for the 2016/2017 fiscal year and an additional £12.2 million for 2017/2018 for Surrey. While these figures provide momentary relief for Surrey, the Council is still bound to lose the entire £116 million of its Revenue Support Grant by 2019. The gap is substantial and details of the changes to services are yet unknown, therefore members of the Residents’ Association and Independent County Councillors voted against the proposed budget during Tuesday’s full council meeting.

In his annual budget speech, leader of the opposition Nick Harrison pointed out the fact that the government’s actions contradict its previous years’ approach.

“They used to bribe councils with one-off grants to freeze council tax. Surrey was criticised for stepping out of line. Now there’s a complete policy reversal. The Funding Assessment now presumes that councils will raise their council tax to the limit. Surrey Tax Payers paid more in the past to plug gaps; now they must do so even more or their services will suffer.”

Additionally, Cllr Harrison did not only warn conservative councillors about the regressive nature of the 4% council tax increase but also noted that even this figure seems be insufficient to tackle the increasing costs of adult social care.

“Considering that our inflation is well below 1%, a 4% increase in council tax (2% of which is earmarked for the elderly) will be particularly difficult for those on low and fixed incomes… Nevertheless, the 2016/2017 budget falls £30 million short in terms of adult social care expenditure, as it does not address last year’s £8 million overspend or the £20 million demographic pressure that experts calculate with.”

RA County Councillor Eber Kington criticised the budget-setting and passing process:

“Does anyone in this Chamber actually believe that the funding of a key public bodies responsible for billions of pounds of public money and the provision of key services to every single resident in the country should be at the whim of a provisional Ministerial decision just before Christmas which is finally confirmed in the week of – or in Surrey’s case on the evening before – the Budget setting meeting.”

Mr. Kington later added,

“The Budget process it is not good enough – it never was, and never will be. It is not open and it is not transparent, and over the next few months the Residents Association and Independent Group of County Councillors will work to improve the effectiveness of Scrutiny Boards in the lead up to the 2017/2018 Budget. I make that commitment as an offer that I hope Mr Hodge will take up.”

West Molesey RA County Councillor Ernest Mallett spoke up most fervently against the prolonged cuts that Surrey County Council has been enduring since the conservative government came to power in 2010:

“Having achieved £350 million in savings over the last five years the Surrey County Council’s resources are already stretched too thin. Achieving another £350 million, which together account for approximately 63% of the Council’s £1.2 billion annual budget may be very well impossible while meeting the duties which the Government lays on us. So why not call the bluff? Let us stop pretending we can maintain front line services whatever the financial weather and effectively give the keys back to the Government. We should be saying, if you think all the duties and work requirements of Surrey can be met by the present grant arrangements, then you come and do it!”

Despite the uniform disapproval of opposition councillors, the Conservative majority council approved the 2016/2017 budget.

For further comments:

CC Nick Harrison – 01737-215405 (H) 07971-664079 (M)
CC Ernest Mallett –
CC Eber Kington – 020-8786-7484 (H) 07598-322406 (M)