The Financial Strategy
The Strategy supports all the priorities and enablers within the Council Plan. It sets out a robust assessment of the financial health of the Council, highlighting challenges and pressures and where action needs to be taken and flags up the financial risks that the Council should be aware of when planning for the future.
The Strategy provides a framework that should be used as part of any decision-making activity within the Council and sets out a roadmap for the Council to get to a position of financial sustainability. Fundamentally that means shifting service delivery models to make sure that spending is within resources available. The Financial Strategy was approved by Council on the 27th September 2023.
How we spend our money to deliver our priorities - Revenue
Our General Fund Services
| Service | £m |
|---|
| Childrens Services | 1,000 |
| Health & Social Care Partnership / Social Work Adult Services | 350 |
| Development Services | 120 |
| Corporate & Housing Services | 115 |
| Capital Charges & other | 68 |
| Falkirk Community Trust | 47 |
What we will do
We will spend more than £1billion over the next 5 years supporting our children and young people via our Children's Services.
This means we are investing in:
- Raising aspiration and ambition
- Reducing the impact of poverty on children and their families
We will fund over £350m in the Health & Social Care Partnership to transform and improve the quality and consistency of services for patients, carers, service users and their families.
For the next 5 years, through our other Services, we will invest around £300m in:
- Growing our economy
- Improving the neighbourhoods we live in
- Promoting vibrant town centres
- Working with communities to deliver better services
How we spend our money to deliver our priorities - Capital
General Services Capital Programme
| Service | £m |
|---|
| Roads Infrastructure | 89 |
| New HQ | 30 |
| Flood Protection | 29 |
| School Estate | 27 |
| Arts Centre | 15 |
| Other | 11 |
| Vehicles | 8 |
| Parks and Open Spaces | 8 |
| ICT Digital | 7 |
What we will do
Our Capital programme pays for major projects or the purchasing / replacement, building and improving of council assets.
We will invest in our digital capability to underpin the transformation of how we deliver services to support individuals and communities.
Over the next 5 years, we will spend more than £150m on our roads, school estates, parks and open spaces, and flood prevention.
This helps make our area 'the place to be'.
What we spend to make high quality sustainable homes that people can afford and meet their needs
Housing Revenue Account
| Type | £m |
|---|
| Property | 131 |
| Capital Charges | 130 |
| Employee | 40 |
| Support Services | 24 |
| Supplies & Services | 19 |
| Other costs | 10 |
Housing Capital
| Type | £m |
|---|
| New Build Housing | 124 |
| Maintenance & Improvements | 109 |
| Energy Efficiency Works | 17 |
| Other costs | 17 |
| Estate Improvements | 14 |
What we will do
The aim of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) is to ensure that tenants of Falkirk Council receive the maximum benefit from their rents and ultimately the best standards of service.
We anticipate spending around £353m over the next 5 years:
- Property spend includes repairs and maintenance of our housing stock and estates.
- Capital charges includes £88m for the repayment of borrowing for capital works, buy backs and new build, along with a £42m contribution to reduce borrowing.
Housing Capital is used to improve existing Falkirk Council homes and to build new homes.
We anticipate investing c£280m over the next 5 years.
What our budget looks like over the next 5 years
In our budget we have projected an estimated £76m budget gap over the next 5 years.
Our business plan shows how we will bridge around £70m of this gap and we know there is still work to be done in the latter years to fully balance our budget.
|
2019/20 £'m |
2020/21 £'m |
2021/22 £'m |
2022/23 £'m |
2023/24 £'m |
Total £'m |
| Budget Gaps |
18.6 |
20 |
12.5 |
12.8 |
12.4 |
76.3 |
| Additional Investment |
1.7 |
0 |
-1.4 |
-0.3 |
0 |
0 |
| Budget Realignment |
8 |
4.9 |
-0.5 |
-0.9 |
-0.5 |
11 |
| Gap to be bridged |
12.3 |
15.1 |
11.6 |
13.4 |
12.9 |
65.3 |
| Services of the future |
3.0 |
4.9 |
2.8 |
2.9 |
2.9 |
16.5 |
| Digital |
0.1 |
0.4 |
0.7 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
1.8 |
| Transformational Enablers |
0.3 |
0.5 |
0.1 |
0 |
0.1 |
0.9 |
| Enabled Communities |
1.2 |
2.3 |
2.5 |
1.6 |
1.5 |
9.1 |
| Entrepreneurial Services |
0.7 |
0.8 |
0.9 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
3.4 |
| Other Savings |
4.0 |
2.4 |
1 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
8.4 |
| FCT |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
5 |
| IJB |
2 |
2.7 |
2.7 |
3.2 |
2.2 |
12.8 |
| Reserves |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Gap bridged |
12.3 |
15.1 |
11.6 |
10.4 |
9.5 |
58.9 |
| Balance |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3.4 |
6.4 |
| Council Tax - Potential Additional 1.5% |
- |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |