South Staffordshire Council adjusts budget in wake of pandemic

Local authorities across Staffordshire have seen the amount of money they receive from services such as car parking and leisure centres plummet since March, when the first national lockdown was imposed to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

Although car parking charges resumed in many areas in the summer, and leisure centres were able to reopen from July after four months of closure, takings remain down.

South Staffordshire Council’s overview and scrutiny committee considered a number of adjustments to the current budget for 2020 to 2021, which was set in February before the pandemic took hold.

While a number of income targets are set to be reduced, two will be revised upwards – restructure savings and green waste collection. The number of residents signing up to the collection charge “significantly exceeded expectations”, a report to the committee said.

South Staffordshire Council announced plans earlier this year for a new charge for residents wanting their garden waste to be collected. An annual permit charge of £43.60 was proposed – £7 more than the annual fee announced by neighbouring Stafford Borough Council.

The charges were brought in following a fall in central Government funding and a forecast drop in South Staffordshire Council’s financial reserves.

The permit is optional for residents. Those who do not want to pay the charge can still dispose of their garden waste for free by taking it to one of the district’s Household Recycling Centres. Home composting is another option available

James Howse, corporate director of resource, told the meeting: “Broadly we budgeted based on experiences of other councils – 45 per cent is a desirable take-up. The actual take up has been in the 60s.

“Part of it is linked to Covid-19. We have had collection issues from Covid-19 and more folk at home working in gardens.

“The difference between budgeted take-up and actual take-up has been some £503,000 in 2020/21.”

The restructure savings target is being increased by £201,000, a report to the committee stated.

But the leisure income target for 2020/21 is being reduced by £1.015 million, while the rental income target will be cut by £275,000 this year. A further £41,000 adjustment is being made to deal with one-off costs associated with Covid-19.

The report said: “Through no fault of budget holders, the consequences of an unforeseen pandemic will have rendered budgets as set unachievable. In addition, a number of positive service changes subsequent to the budget setting process – chargeable green waste and staffing reductions -should also be reflected in revised budgets.

“Leisure income reflects the loss of income from membership, classes and bookings from both the enforced closure of the four leisure centres during the summer lockdown and estimates of losses from the current lockdown. These have been netted off against some corresponding savings in agency staff costs and the receipt of compensatory monies for furloughed staff via the Government’s Job Retention scheme.

“It appears prudent to reduce budgets for rentals across the industrial estate to reflect the prospect of an economic downturn. The revised budgets assume 90 per cent collection rates, as opposed to 97 per cent normally.”