Fiscal Affairs Scotland
has published a useful analysis
of the savings councils will have to make
following this and previous year’s budget allocations. The Scotsman covered this well this morning.
They say seeking to
charge service users more may be one option to help fill any funding gap. What
seems more likely is that non-statutory services will be at even greater risk
than now, as will service quality levels that are deemed to be over and above
the minimum necessary. Other key points include:
• Councils are
securing a declining share of the Scottish government’s total budget, the
opposite is true for NHS health boards. This may have a detrimental impact on
how well integrated care in the community can be implemented.
• The Scottish
government is increasingly relying more on non-domestic rates income (NDRI) to
boost its coffers and less on council taxes. They question the income
projections and point to the risks of councils being asked to fund any
downside.
• Borrowing can
only secure longer-term investment not annual revenue expenditures. Even this
is difficult for some council’s given relatively static real terms future
increases in Scottish Government revenue support. Smith Commission borrowing
powers will also be important here.
Jo Armstrong, FAS Executive Director said:
“As budgets continue
to tighten, while demand continues to rise, it is increasingly hard to see how
the continued delivery of many of Scotland’s key public services can be
achieved by local authorities securing additional efficiency savings alone.”
This
analysis mirrors the UNISON Scotland briefing
to MSP’s only last month. We highlighted that austerity cuts are being dumped
on councils and charges are being increased to plug the gap caused by the
regressive Council tax freeze. Our ‘Damage’ series of reports also highlight
the service impact of cuts.
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