Salford City Council's spending plans 2004 - 2005
The 2004/05 budget process
The formulation of the approved budget for 2004/05 represented the culmination of many months of consultation and deliberation during a detailed budgetary process as summarised below.
Forecasts of the council’s spending requirements for 2004/05 began in March last year and formed part of the city council’s financial strategy. The strategy was developed during the year and adjusted to take into account the issues arising from the detailed scrutiny of services and changes announced by the Government relating to the way that it funds local authority expenditure. Services formal budget submissions were timed to coincide with the details of the Government’s provisional funding settlement in November/December. These issues made it necessary to revise the council’s budget planning level to take into account: -
- The relatively low level of the Revenue Support Grant increase. For Salford this represents a 3.8% increase after adjustment for function and grant funding changes. This is once again less than the average increase of 4.9% for all local authorities.
- The impact of certain transfers between specific grants and RSG.
- The calculations for passporting the Government’s expected increases in funding to Education and Social Services.
- The impact on costs of the increased service demands, particular for Social Services, identified during the detailed scrutiny of services.
- The clear expectation from the Government of a low increase in council tax.
The implications of these funding issues on service costs and outcomes are considered during December and January with the budget of £280.403m approved in February.
The approved budget is designed to deliver continued improvement in service delivery and meet city council and national priorities and address other issues coming from the key messages contained in the findings of the various independent reviews of the city council. In summary the budget has been approved within the following financial framework: -
- Council tax rises to be below the national average.
- Reserves to achieve the target of £8m or a lower level supported by a thorough risk assessment.
- To continue to passport Government anticipated spending increases for schools and social services.
- Providing growth in priority services of £1m per annum.
- De-capitalising revenue expenditure currently funded from capital in a phased manner over the next three years.
- Seeking to eliminate the dependence on surpluses achieved by direct service organisations to support the budget.
- Making appropriate allowance for expected pay and price inflation and other anticipated commitments based on a budget risk exercise
A budget of £280.403m would enable all aspects of the financial framework to be met, or progress made on, and ensure that all directorates maintain a "positive direction of travel" in delivering the council's pledges and priorities, national priorities and improving performance.
Next: Budget overview - a Summary of Budget Changes from 2003/04 to 2004/05
This page was last updated on 21 July 2004
Email this page to a friend
Bookmark this page using:
Find out more about social bookmarking.
These sites allow you to store, tag and share links across the internet. You can share these links both with friends and people with similar interests. You can also access your links from any computer you happen to be using.
If you come across a page on our site that you find interesting and want to save for future reference or share it with other people, simply click on one of these links to add to your list.
All of these sites are free to use but do require you to register. Once you have registered you can begin bookmarking. Each of the sites works slightly differently so use the links below to find out which service best suits your needs.
Find out more about social bookmarking at Wikipedia.
