West Lothian - Budget set

Key highlights:

• Next year, nearly £556 million will be spent on delivering day-to-day local services
• Over 75% of the council's revenue budget will be spent on education, social care and operational services which includes roads, waste services and open spaces. Further investment comes from the council's capital and housing budgets which are agreed separately.
• Council Tax is frozen in 2024/25 for all bands
• The Council Tax freeze - announced by the Scottish Government - will result in a further £1.4million of budget savings being required in West Lothian next year as it is not fully funded
• Due to insufficient funding from the Scottish Government combined with increasing costs, the council has a budget gap of £16.6million for 2024/25 (and budget gap of £38 million from 2024/25 to 2027/28) - this means that significant savings are required
• By 2028 the council will have had to make budget savings by almost £0.2 billion (between April 2007 - March 2028)
• The council's core revenue grant funding has been cut by over £1million in 2024/25 by the Scottish Government
• The council has a no compulsory redundancy position, however the scale of the budget pressures facing the council will impact on staff numbers. Overall the number of council staff will reduce over the next two years
• The majority of savings measures were agreed last year to be implemented over a five-year period, but more measures have had to be agreed in order to allow the Council to balance its budget - something we are legally required to do

All councils have a legal requirement to agree a balanced budget each year so if the funding provided is less than the cost of providing services overall, the council must reduce spending to balance its budget.  A wide range of budget savings have already been agreed at last year's budget setting meeting and will be implemented further from April 2024:

Examples include:

• Internal savings through reviewing admin support and streamlining processes to reduce costs
• Internal management restructures
• Reduction in staff numbers and management restructures
• Reducing the number of offices and reducing the number of council buildings overall
• Energy savings from council buildings
• Instrumental music will continue to be delivered but the service will be delivered in line with Scottish Government funding levels
• Support West Lothian Leisure to become fully self-funded

Nearly £1.8 million of additional savings to help meet the increased funding gap have been approved for next year (2024/25).

These include:

• Introduction of charges for household garden waste collections later this year (charges will not apply to council temporary tenancies and council tenants can request to make payments alongside their rent)
• Increase in Council Tax for second homes
• Increase debt collection on Council Tax
• Continue ASN transport but increase the use of our internal fleet to reduce costs and standardised the service
• A further 1% standard inflationary increase in discretionary fees and charges which is 5.5%

Leader of West Lothian Council Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: "Setting a budget with insufficient levels of funding is a very difficult task.

"However, it is important to focus on the fact that this council will continue to deliver a huge range of vital services that impact on the lives of thousands of people every day.

"Education and social care will continue to be our main priorities. These services, in addition to our roads, parks and recycling services, represent the vast majority of our budget and will see significant levels of investment.

"Protecting and enhancing services for the most vulnerable people in West Lothian is a key priority for us, as is our local environment. 75% of our budget is now ring-fenced and must be spent on Scottish Government policy commitments, but we have done all we can to protect services and jobs against a background of significant cuts to our budget."