Issue - meetings

The Council considered a report, presented by the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, which sought approval of the Revenue Budget proposals for 2020/21 to 2022/23.

The Mayor stated that hard work, expertise and £7 million of unexpected one-off funding from Central Government for Social Care, had contributed towards addressing the budget gap for 2020/21.  Despite the improved financial position in the short term, the proposals indicated that the journey ahead was still a challenging one with ambitious savings that needed to be achieved to meet an overall budget gap of £17.7 million over a three year period.

The Mayor highlighted the enormity of the challenge that the Council has had to face over the past 10 years.  Since 2010, Government funding to Doncaster Council had been cut by 51% or £119 million per year, and that 64% of Council spending for 2020/21, was on Adult & Children’s Services.  Last year, ‘Centre for Cities’ classed Doncaster as the third hardest hit Council in the country from Austerity.  The Mayor pointed out that the 1% increase in Council Tax would bring in £1.1 million in Doncaster, which was considerably less than 1% would be in more affluent areas, and that that local taxpayers should not have ‘to foot the bill’ for the lack of Central Government Funding.

The Mayor emphasised that the Council would protect jobs and frontline services where it could, it would help the vulnerable and wherever possible, continue with the services that mattered most to its residents.  The Council’s recent community engagement exercise, through Doncaster Talks, identified that being a cleaner and greener Borough was a key priority for the people of Doncaster.  Therefore, as part of the budget for 2020/21, the Mayor had allocated further financial resources to cleansing, grounds maintenance and enforcement services, which would include investment in equipment, additional resources and improved methods of operation within services.

It was reported that the budget included an increase in Council Tax of 1.99% in 2020/21, and a further 2% increase through the Government’s Social Care Precept.  The overall increase equated to an additional 69p per week for Band A and £1.04 per week for Band D.  Doncaster would therefore continue to have one of the lowest Council Taxes in Local Authorities of its size in the country.  The Council was 11th lowest in 2019/20 and for 2020/21, and it would continue to be the lowest in South Yorkshire.

The Mayor stressed that the focus on finance was never ending and further work was still needed to meet the increasing budget gap for 2022/23.  This would require delivering on-going savings to bridge the gap between funding available and rising costs, as the use of one-off reserves was not a sustainable solution.

The Mayor pointed out that “Austerity is supposed to be over” and had put this statement to the Prime Minister and for the new Chancellor to prove it.  She asked that Local Government be given the financial resources to deliver the level of services that people needed and deserved,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74