Item 05 Appendix 4
West Dunbartonshire Council · 1 March 2023
Back to West Dunbartonshire Council — 1 March 2023 and its agenda
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Appendix 4 2023/24 BUDGET - MANAGEMENT ADJUSTMENT Chief Officer Amanda Graham Saving Ref: CCF14 Saving Title Common Good Funding for library resources Summary of Savings Proposal In recent years, significant savings have been taken from the libraries service as part of a service wide review. The savings were generated in the main from a restructure of the service to fully integrate with Citizen Services and reduce post numbers and a reduction in library opening hours. The Common Good Fund is available to support initiatives which are for the benefit of the people of Dumbarton. An opportunity exists to make an application to the fund to help support the purchase of resources including physical (books, audio books, magazines, newspapers, DVDs) and digital (eBook, eAudio, eMagazine, eNewspaper) for Dumbarton Library. The total fund for library resources across all libraries and the mobile library service is £100,000, and it is proposed to seek funding of £10,000 to fund the provision for Dumbarton Library. This would generate a saving of circa £10,000 from the Council revenue budget Impact and Risk Associated with Proposed Savings This is a change in how the resources are funded moving from revenue budget to funding from the Common Good Fund. Currently the Common Good Fund has a favourable balance and opportunity exists to further utilise this for the benefit of residents. There is a small risk that income to the Common Good Fund reduces in future and the position has to be reconsidered at that time. Saving 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 £000 FTE £000 FTE £000 FTE 10 0 10 0 10 0
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Appendix 4 2023/24 BUDGET – MANAGEMENT ADJUSTMENT Chief Officer: Laura Mason Saving Ref: EDU04 Saving Title Outreach Support Service Reviewed and Revised Alternative Model Summary of Savings Proposal The Outreach Support Service provides targeted support for the area’s most vulnerable children and families. Our family demographics demonstrate an increased need for early family help in line with Scottish Government and local policies. The Council provides early signposting for families to a wide range of supports and partners including access to health, mental health support, wellbeing, financial support and benefits. This service provides family supports which are different to that of any other education resource. Under this proposal, the Outreach Support Service for children and families will be reviewed to become part of the Whole Family Wellbeing pilot project, and funded for an agreed period through the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund(WFWF). The alternative funding for the continuation of the outreach service will continue to 2023/24. Impact and Risk Associated with Proposed Savings This service is currently managed by Education. Under this proposal the cost of the service would be deleted from Education thus providing a saving. The revised outreach model would be funded from the WFWF until April 2024. Following that, funding would be determined by availability and viability of the pilot and if not available through WFWF or any successor the Council would require to determine whether to mainstream funding. The future pilot model will ensure continuity and mitigate risks to families. Saving 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 £000 FTE £000 FTE £000 FTE 212 0 0 0 0 0
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Appendix 4 2023/24 BUDGET – MANAGEMENT ADJUSTMENT Chief Officer: Victoria Rogers Saving Ref: PT04 Saving Title Reduction to service provision in People & Change team Summary of Savings Proposal The Council currently provides Human Resources support to all employees and managers across services via the People and Change team. The People and Change Team have a residual budget of £29k as a consequence of previous changes to the team structure. For example: not replacing like for like when the Health and Safety manager left (created two lead roles at lower grade) replacing Health and Safety Officer with a graduate. This residual budget was to be used to recruit a Human Resources graduate to build resilience, create additional resource (due to increasing HR caseload + 33%) and ensure succession planning. However, given the budget gap, this budget can be offered resulting in no HR graduate. There is no staff impact as recruitment had not commenced. Impact and Risk Associated with Proposed Savings Reduced resource within the People and Change team will impact succession planning and end plans to recruit a Human Resources graduate. Service delivery will be impacted as HR may need to withdraw from some meetings and Organisational Development will be unable to support bespoke requests. Saving 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 £000 FTE £000 FTE £000 FTE 29 0 29 0 29 0
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Appendix 4 2023/24 BUDGET – MANAGEMENT ADJUSTMENT Chief Officer: Laurence Slavin Saving Ref: RES09 Saving Title Increase in turnover savings target Summary of Savings Proposal The Council’s budget currently assumes an annual turnover savings target of 4% which equates to £2.698m in 2022/23. This is generally achieved through either: newly employed officers starting at the bottom of a grade having replaced someone at a higher spinal point in the grade there being a period of time between an office leaving and their replacement being recruited. Officers have reviewed the turnover savings generated to date and projected the estimated outturn for the year which amounts to £3.410m. This exceeds the annual target by £0.712m. This assumes a continued level of turnover for the rest of the 2022/23 financial year. On this basis the turnover savings target for 2023/24, and beyond, has been increased by £0.712m. This will be closely monitored during 2023/24 to assess progress toward meeting the target and, if appropriate active management of recruitment will be implemented should it appear that the target is not going to be met. Impact and Risk Associated with Proposed Savings The option has no impact on staff in terms of posts however material delays in filling vacancies will increase the workload on existing staff. Saving 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 £000 FTE £000 FTE £000 FTE 712 0 712 0 712 0
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Appendix 4 2023/24 BUDGET – MANAGEMENT ADJUSTMENT Chief Officer: Laurence Slavin Saving Ref: RES23 Saving Title Income From Building Insurance Recharges Summary of Savings Proposal Budget realignment The annual cost of building insurance for General Services properties (including commercial properties) is budgeted within Sundry Services. However, a contribution is made towards this cost by the tenants of commercial properties, who are charged for their share of the insurance cost. This contribution has been previously omitted from the income budgeted within Sundry Services totalling approximately £0.080m. This £0.080m will be added to the miscellaneous income budget within Sundry Services. Impact and Risk Associated with Proposed Savings The associated cost of commercial building insurance is recharged to occupied properties. The anticipated income of £0.080m assumes those properties will remain occupied for the foreseeable future. However, the cost of insurance will remain with the council for any properties which are vacant or become vacant and so this income is variable year on year. Saving 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 £000 FTE £000 FTE £000 FTE 80 0 80 0 80 0
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Appendix 4 2023/24 BUDGET PREPARATION – SAVING OPTION Chief Officer: Laurence Slavin Saving Ref: RES24 Saving Title Right size the Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT) and Valuation Joint Board (VJB) Budgets Summary of Savings Proposal Budget realignment VJB - The Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute Valuation Joint Board (DABVJB) is funded by contributions from the three constituent authorities (West Dunbartonshire, East Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute). Whilst, in recent years, the total funding assumed is retained on a flat cash basis, the split per authority changes year on year to reflect changes in the gross aggregate expenditure (GAE). The 2023/24 West Dunbartonshire Council contribution based on the 2022/23 GAE allocation will be £0.732m which is a reduction of £0.033m from what is currently budgeted (£0.765m). SPT - The Council has received notification of the 2023/24 SPT requisition which totals £1.588m. Whilst this reflects an increase on the 2022/23 allocation of £0.020m, a review of the Council’s budget has confirmed that the budgeted figure was too high in previous years and can be reduced by £0.044m to align it to the 2023/24 requisition level. Impact and Risk Associated with Proposed Savings None Saving 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 £000 FTE £000 FTE £000 FTE 77 0 77 0 77 0
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Appendix 4 2023/24 BUDGET – MANAGEMENT ADJUSTMENT Chief Officer: Alan Douglas Saving Ref: RR05 Saving Title Remove one Section Head (Principal Solicitor) Posts and redistribute all duties between the existing two. Summary of Savings Proposal With the retirement of the Section Head Contracts and Property in mid-June 2022 the possibility has arisen to redefine the roles of the remaining two Section Heads and remove one post from the organisation. A previous iteration of this saving option had envisaged the possibility of backfilling the post with a basic grade solicitor which would have limited the available saving to £16,000 per annum (the difference between the Section Head (Grade 10) and the Solicitor post (Grade 8). Impact and Risk Associated with Proposed Savings A reconfiguration of the existing three teams’ workloads would be required to ensure professional management oversight for all disciplines. Following a review of workload it is considered that the previously envisaged backfilling of the post with one basic grade solicitor could be avoided. With the Council’s regeneration agenda, housing challenges and the reliance on Capital Receipts to balance budgets this represents a substantial risk to the Council and it is likely that for some considerable time to come, the Manager of Legal Services would need to be involved in some level of case-work. As this post is currently vacant, attracting a candidate with relevant skills will be vital. A review of attendance at and oversight of agendas for some committees may be required and it is likely that attendance at Project Boards will be limited to those where legal input is an essential pre-requisite. It is possible that some areas may require to be outsourced and there may be additional costs to client services on occasion. Saving 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 £000 FTE £000 FTE £000 FTE 70 0 70 0 70 0
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Appendix 4 2023/24 BUDGET – MANAGEMENT ADJUSTMENT Chief Officer Alan Douglas Saving Ref: RR14 Saving Title Remove vacant Trading Standards Authorised Officer Post Summary of Savings Proposal In the meeting of Council in December 2022 a savings option to revert one currently vacant Trading Standards Officer Post to an Authorised Officer post was accepted by Council. Following the call for further savings and consideration of how Trading Standards might operate alongside other regulatory teams within Regulatory and Regeneration Services, it is proposed that the Authorised Officer post be removed from the establishment, generating a further saving of £42k. Impact and Risk Associated with Proposed Savings The proposal will involve re-prioritisation of work and the permanent cessation of some optional services which the Trading Standards Service previously provided. A full options appraisal will be undertaken to determine what the future service will omit. Certain, currently postponed , intelligence led work will require cross team working in order to recommence, however as a number of teams within Regulatory and Regeneration have dedicated officers used to working in regulatory roles, it is believed that cross-team working will allow sufficient resource to allow these to recommence, albeit at a reduced pace. Saving 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 £000 FTE £000 FTE £000 FTE 42 0 42 0 42 0