Local Government Provisional Financial Settlement

On 13th December the Government announced its proposed levels of grant support for local authorities for 2011/12 and 2012/13. As had been expected all authorities face reductions in their funding for the future. However the level of reductions differs between authorities, as the Government has stated it wishes to offer some protection to those authorities most dependent on government grants to fund their expenditure.

South Bucks DC has been placed in the category of district councils that are least dependent on Government funding and therefore has the largest percentage reduction in its grant.

The South Bucks DC reduction in grant for 2011/12 is £563,000 which equates to a 16.8% decrease. In the following year there is a further reduction of £352,000 or 13.5%. In cash terms over the two years the Council is facing a reduction in cash terms of £905,000 or 30%.

The South Bucks DC reduction compares to the national average reduction of 9.9% for 2011/12. It is also above the average reduction for SE England authorities (excl London), which is 10.8%.

Cllr Adrian Busby commented on the provisional settlement, “We had anticipated a tough settlement given the need to restore national finances after 13 years of economic mismanagement by the previous Labour government. However this settlement is more challenging as we are being required to take greater cuts in grant than authorities who in the past have received higher levels of government funding than South Bucks. We will be reviewing the financial plans we already have in place to deal with the additional challenges posed by this settlement. We will announce the final results of our financial planning in February when we set the budget and council tax for 2011/12."