Overview
Barnet Council plays a big part in people’s lives. Every year, we spend over £360million providing public services that you, your family and friends use every day.
As well as supporting our communities, we are committed to the responsible management of the council’s finances. However, like many local authorities and households across the country, Barnet is facing unprecedented financial challenges across all areas of our work. These challenges include the continued uncertainty over government funding, and economic uncertainty with high inflation, high interest rates, and the cost of living continuing to rise.
Against this backdrop we must ensure ourContinue reading
Overview
Barnet Council plays a big part in people’s lives. Every year, we spend over £360million providing public services that you, your family and friends use every day.
As well as supporting our communities, we are committed to the responsible management of the council’s finances. However, like many local authorities and households across the country, Barnet is facing unprecedented financial challenges across all areas of our work. These challenges include the continued uncertainty over government funding, and economic uncertainty with high inflation, high interest rates, and the cost of living continuing to rise.
Against this backdrop we must ensure our budget for the future is balanced. All local authorities are legally required to set a balanced budget every year and ensure they have enough money to deliver services to their residents and businesses.
How we are responding to the financial challenge
We have always taken a long-term and proactive approach to financial planning in difficult circumstances. We have saved over £224million between 2010 and 2023 and protected frontline services as far as possible. However, looking forward we face another very challenging anticipated budget gap of just over £98million to 2029/30. This includes a £46.2million budget gap for the next financial year 2024/25.
Over the last six months we have been working hard to identify savings and income generation proposals across the council to help meet this budget gap, whilst still being able to deliver quality services, meet all our demand pressures, and invest in our priorities included in our Plan for Barnet 2023-26.
For more information on how we plan to meet our financial challenge, please take the time to read our consultation document. You can also read the Cabinet Business Planning Report which sets out in full the council’s proposed budget for 2024/25.
What we are seeking your views on
We would like your views on the savings and income proposals we have developed to help balance our budget for next year (2024/25). In particular, we are seeking your views on:
- the overall budget, and our savings and income generation proposals for 2024/25
- our proposal to increase general Council Tax
- our proposal to also apply an Adult Social Care Precept on Council Tax to help pay for adult social care.
We welcome views from all our residents, as well as people who study, work or have a business in the borough. We also welcome feedback from local organisations and community groups.
How to give us your views
Please take the time to read our consultation document before completing our online questionnaire.
If you require a paper copy of the consultation document and questionnaire or another format, please email: budgetconsultation@barnet.gov.uk or telephone the Consultation and Engagement Team on 020 8359 7016.
What happens after the consultation closes?
The findings from the consultation will be reported to Cabinet on 6 February 2024 and will then be considered by Council on 27 February 2024 before final approval of the 2024/25 budget.
