Swindon council tax hike fear as finance chief reveals budget crisis

On Tuesday, September 22, the Adver sat down with Swindon Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Finance, Recovery and Transformation, Councillor Keith Williams, to discuss the council's financial position.

The council is in a difficult position at the moment, relying on Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) from the government.

"We are not [at bankruptcy] stage yet. The EFS arrangement is to avoid bankruptcy. If that arrangement wasn't there, we would be bankrupt," said Cllr Williams.

Cllr Williams laid out some of the council's thoughts on council tax going forward.

He said that, considering the pressures, reducing council tax down from 4.99% is unlikely, and increasing council tax by more than that percentage is an option the council will have to consider, because of the increasing pressures that statutory services is putting on them.

"From a Swindon perspective, one of the very real options we are having to look at is whether, given the EFS situation we have inherited, council tax does need to increase.

"We will look to make it balanced, because we recognise the economic pressures that everyone is under.

"If anything like that was to be considered, we would have to do it in conjunction with ensuring there is maybe a support mechanism in place for the most vulnerable so that they aren't unfairly disadvantaged by that."

Cllr Williams said that such an increase should have been done this year or last year, and that the decision had been "kicked down the road a bit."

"The sooner you start doing it, you can do a smaller increase over the 4.99, and then you have that compounding effect," he said.

But he emphasised that nothing has been decided yet.

He said that Swindon is already efficient when compared to some other councils, which he said gives the administration a "dilemma."

"It makes it more difficult to be even more efficient, which is obviously something we strive to do," he said.

Cllr Williams acknowledged that some pressures the council has come under have been out of the local authority's control - many have been down to international and national factors, such as inflationary pressures, and the changes to national living wage and national insurance.

"The key thing [coming in] was looking at where the major areas were of expenditure and that hasn't really changed in over a decade - children's services, social care.

"The amount of money that we get from our core grant from central government has actually gone down.

"Much more of those [services] are basically [supported] by the council tax budget and what we raise from residents."

He said there were many initiatives being undertaken by the council to make savings, and that "substantial transformation" is needed in certain areas, including building children's care facilities, and making services more efficient in places.

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) is now assisting SBC.

They have compiled a list of recommendations they expect the council to implement, including establishing a Financial Recovery Advisory Group, which has now been done.

"On the one hand it is essential that we put the council back on an even footing, but we recognise that people in Swindon [want funding directed to certain areas]," said Cllr Williams.

"We are looking to balance the books as well as delivering on real placemaking, community facilities to really add to the cultural offer that Swindon has."

He said that the council hope to be out of EFS by the 2028/2029 financial year, but that it is "difficult".

Councillor Jim Robbins, the Leader of the Labour Group in Swindon said: "The Conservatives now lead the council, so the responsibility for the budget - including any decision on council tax - rests squarely with them.

"It is worth remembering that last year, the Conservatives voted against the 4.99% council tax increase so it is simply not credible for them to accuse others of kicking the can down the road.

"We recognise that the council faces financial pressures, but we also know that residents are facing serious financial pressures of their own in the cost-of-living crisis.

"That is the balance any responsible administration has to strike, as we did last year.

"The Conservatives are now in charge. They have the responsibility to set the budget and set Council tax.

"If they want to raise it by more than the threshold, they need to come out to residents and explain their choice.

"They cannot vote against difficult decisions one year and then present the consequences of putting those decisions off as though they have come out of nowhere."