North Northamptonshire Council Draft Budget 2023/24 Consultation

Overview

Creating an efficient council which can deliver vital services while being robust enough to withstand economic uncertainty is the cornerstone of North Northamptonshire Council’s budget proposals for 2023/24.

The council proposes a balanced revenue budget for 2023/24 and outlines the medium-term financial plan for the next two years within our 22 December 2022 Executive reports.

While this has been challenging the authority has laid strong financial foundations for financial stability against a backdrop of global financial uncertainty.

The net revenue budget for 2023/24 is £336 million. This money provides a range of services to residents and businesses across the area including care to vulnerable adults and children, education, the disposal and collection of waste, household waste recycling, highways, economic development, housing and support for the homeless.

We are currently living through very challenging times and the council must do all it can to manage its finances efficiently and with prudence. We must put measures in place, not just with the current situation in mind but as we look toward the medium term.

Local government funding at a national level remains uncertain. Areas that have delivered significant business growth, such as North Northamptonshire Council could find that they are adversely impacted by the new local government funding regime which is due to be implemented in 2025/26.

We therefore need to take this into consideration when making our current budget decisions.

Unprecedented levels of inflation present significant challenges for everyone: individuals, businesses and local authorities, making running costs more expensive.

In these difficult times, we know our services are vital to residents and we are working hard to protect and improve them in the face of increasing demand.

We believe this budget will ensure the delivery of services that are so important to those who live and work in North Northamptonshire.

With the challenging economic climate, putting this budget together has not been easy and we have been very cautious with our finances. We continue to work tirelessly to deliver savings, to innovate, improve services and to attract funding from outside of the area.

Council Tax

Government has permitted local authorities to increase the Council Tax rate by 4.99% in recognition of the difficult financial climate and increased inflationary pressures.

As such the authority is proposing an increase allowed by Government in Council Tax of 4.99%, which includes the 2% adult social care precept.

This increase would contribute around an additional £9m per year towards inflationary and demand lead pressures to enable services to be maintained and would represent a Band D level of Council Tax for North Northamptonshire Council of £1,657.51 for 2023/24.

This is an annual increase of £78.78 (equivalent to £1.52 per week) from the Band D Council Tax level of £1,578.73 in 2022/23. For a Band A property – which makes up the greatest proportion of residences in the area – this would see an annual increase from £1,052.48 in 2022/23 to £1,105.01 for 2023/24, which is £52.53 a year (equating to £1.01 per week).

These figures do not include the Council Tax for individual Town and Parish Councils or the Council Tax set for Fire and Police by the Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

Increasing Council Tax has the advantage of providing stable funding for the future, helping to further protect services.

With such a large proportion of our income coming from Council Tax – to not increase it, especially when inflation is at exceptionally high levels – would seriously impact our finances going forward and could mean that we would need to consider the revision of some of our services.

There is no change to the Local Council Tax Support Scheme which will continue at 25%. 

Next steps

This consultation will run from 22 December 2022 until midnight on Friday, 27 January 2023, with the Executive then meeting on 9 February 2023 to consider the final budget proposals for recommendation to Full Council on 23 February 2023.

The main proposals are:

• To increase Council Tax by 4.99%, comprising a ‘core’ Council Tax increase of 2.99% covering all services and a further 2% for the adult social care precept, which is the maximum amount permitted. This would contribute an additional £9m per year and would represent a Band D level of Council Tax of £1,657.51 in 2023/24, or the equivalent of £31.88 per week.
• Draft Capital Programme 2023-26.

Your feedback on this consultation is really important to us. All consultation feedback will be analysed and considered and will help inform Councillors of residents' and stakeholders' views when making a final decision on the budget at the North Northamptonshire Council Full Council meeting on 23 February 2023. This meeting is held in public and anyone wishing to speak at the meeting must contact democraticservices@northnorthants.gov.uk once the agenda is issued on the Council's website on 15 February 2023. Details of how the public can address the meeting will be given on the agenda.

Related Documents

Please read the related documents to gain a better understanding of the budget proposals before you comment on them.

• Draft Budget 2023/24 and Medium-Term Financial Plan, and its appendices:
  • Appendix A - Draft Budget Summary 2023/24
  • Appendix B - List of budget pressures and saving proposals
  • Appendix C - Dedicated Schools Grant
  • Appendix D - Reserves Strategy 2023/24
  • Appendix E - Equality Screening Assessment
  • Addendum to Budget Report
• Capital Programme 2023-26, and its appendices:
  • Appendix A - General Fund Capital Programme 2023-26
  • Appendix B - Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme 2023-26
  • Appendix C - Development Pool

The following Housing Revenue Account (HRA) report is being presented to Executive as part of the council's budget papers. 

The HRA is a separate ring-fenced account within the council for the income and expenditure associated with its housing stock.

The HRA does not directly impact on the council’s wider general fund budget or on the level of council tax. Income to the HRA is primarily received through the rents and other charges paid by tenants and leaseholders.

Council tenants will be consulted via a targeted consultation on the HRA proposals via their respective Tenant Advisory Panel.

• Housing Revenue Account Draft Budget 2023/24 and Medium-Term Financial Plan Proposals
  • HRA Budget - Appendices A to C

Have your say

The following sections gives details of the budget proposals. Please tell us your views by completing this questionnaire. You do not have to answer all of the questions or give us your feedback on every section. If you do not wish to answer a question or give feedback on a specific section, then you can skip those questions and move on to the next section.

This questionnaire focusses on the key new proposals for the draft budget 2023/24 that will likely affect residents. However, there is opportunity to comment on anything within the Draft Budget in the comment boxes towards the end of the questionnaire.

Your feedback will be part of a report with many other people’s feedback, so you will not be personally identified.

You can also access this online questionnaire free of charge at any North Northamptonshire Council library. Please see the Library website or telephone 0300 126 3000 to check opening times.

Alternatively, you can email or send your comments in by post using the contact details below, or by handing it in to one of North Northamptonshire Council’s libraries.

You can also hold your own group discussion with others and provide your joint feedback either by completing the online Group Facilitator’s Feedback Form or by downloading the PDF version below and emailing or posting the form back to us.

If you have any queries, comments or would like a copy of this questionnaire in another format (including paper, easy read or large print) you can contact us by email, post or telephone. Our contact details are as follows:

Email address: CET@northnorthants.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 126 3000

Postal address:

• Budget Consultation Response
• North Northamptonshire Council
• Sheerness House 
• Meadow Road
• Kettering
• NN16 8TL

The deadline for completing this questionnaire is midnight 27 January 2023.

For information about how consultation and engagement responses are managed, please see the consultation and engagement privacy notice.

Thank you for helping us by completing this questionnaire.