Have your say on budget spending

This consultation closed on 1 Feb 2021.
You can read the survey introduction and background information below, along with the results of the survey

Background
A summary of the proposed budget (2021-22) survey results.
Integrated Plan and budget engagement

We want to hear your views about how we should spend your Council Tax over the coming financial year, from April 2021 to March 2022.

We'll use feedback from this consultation to inform the council’s budget decision-making process.

This survey accompanies our proposed budget for 2021-22 – we call this our draft Integrated Plan 2021-22. You'll find summary highlights below.

Opening date: 11 January 2021

Closing date: 1 February 2021

Background

Hertfordshire is a great place to live and work. However, Hertfordshire County Council faces a range of challenges over the coming years. Significant population and housing growth are anticipated and, as with the rest of the country, our population is ageing and increasingly experiencing long-term complex health problems. Coronavirus has also brought about some big changes to how we work and provide services. All of these challenges generate increasing demand on our services and infrastructure. However, the council has also delivered significant savings since 2010.

The council tax you pay helps to fund the services we provide. To shape services for the future of the county in the next financial year, Hertfordshire County Council is proposing a general council tax increase of 1.99% in order to fund part of this work. The council also has flexibility for a further increase to support Adult Social Care, which helps support adults with physical and mental disabilities, carers and older people. The Council proposes for an extra 2% to support Adult Social Care, meaning a total proposed increase to council tax of 3.99%.

Highlights in the proposed budget for 2021-22 (Integrated Plan)

Adult care and health

Funding for additional numbers of people needing support and to cover increases in the National Living Wage.
Funding to enable care worker pay increases to be extended to include those working in residential, nursing and supported living establishments across disability and older people’s services.
Support to the Voluntary Sector, including an enhanced package next year to support COVID recovery, building on the excellent support these partnerships have provided to communities this year.
Investment in safeguarding – providing additional practitioners to ensure this critical service has the right level of resource to support the most vulnerable.
Providing permanent funding for the Domestic Violence Service, enabling it to respond to new national initiatives with certainty.
Funding to support the transformation in disability services in the coming years.

Highways and Environment

£10m investment as part of our climate change response, providing additional capital funding to improve drainage in response to highways flooding brought about by increasing and changing rainfall patterns.
£7m investment to move forward roll-out of 20mph speed limits, in line with the Speed Management Strategy approved by Cabinet in December 2020.
£3m investment in active travel schemes.
Extra funding for winter maintenance to help keep the county moving.

Sustainable Herts

£10m capital investment in sustainable projects to significantly drive forward delivery of the Sustainable Hertfordshire strategy approved by Cabinet in March 2020 with an action plan approved in December 2020. That includes £1.5m earmarked for pilot projects in schools energy initiatives. It will also enable the council to seek external funding, providing matched funding where needed, to maximise funding available to support the strategy.
Creating a £2m revenue investment fund to drive forward the action plan, and doubling project capacity to £600k per year.

Growth, Infrastructure, Planning and the Economy

Creating a £2m investment fund to progress Growth and Infrastructure work in the county, including development work and studies to put the council at the forefront of being able to bid for government and other external funding.

Community Safety and Waste Management

Investment in our waste infrastructure, including at our recycling centres with equipment to minimise the environmental impact and cost of waste transfer.
To deliver against the 2019-23 Integrated Risk Management Plan so that appropriate fire prevention, protection and response resources are provided in Hertfordshire.

Children, Young People and Families

Investment in prevention, supporting diversion work that aims to avoid children becoming looked after.
Ensuring there is sufficient contingency in the budget to meet post-COVID demand, both in terms of staffing and support for children needing care.

Education, Libraries and Localism

£53m investment in new special schools and specialist resource provision to enable delivery of the SEND strategy, approved by Cabinet in December 2020.

Resources and Performance

Investment in technology to ensure the organisation can modernise and take advantage of new ways of working.

Public Health and Prevention

To support in the recovery from COVID-19 additional funding of £1.5m will be invested into health inequalities, healthy places and mental health.

Revenue and capital proposals

The analysis of revenue and capital proposals across service areas is shown below. This table looks at:

net Revenue Budget (the amount of money for providing day to day services, such as social care and disposing of waste)
capital proposals (investments in buildings, infrastructure and equipment).

Revenue and capital proposals
Service	Net Revenue Budget 2021-22 (£m)	Capital Proposals 2021-22 (£m)
Children’s Services: Education and Early Intervention This includes advice, challenge and support to schools to raise educational standards and promote the wider well-being of children and young people. This includes responsibility for insuring that there are sufficient school places; funding of eighty-two children centres and provision of services for young people.It also includes information on childcare; parenting and family support; funding of nursery education for 3-4 year olds and provision of services for young people. Safeguarding and Specialist Services helps to safeguard and promote the welfare of vulnerable children and young people by providing services for children with disabilities, child protection, family support and children in residential and foster care.	185.6	106.0
Community Protection comprises Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Hertfordshire Trading Standards, Emergency Planning and Resilience, working together to ensure a co-ordinated approach to keeping all who live and work in Hertfordshire safe and protected.	39.2	12.1
Environment & Infrastructure maintains roads, pavements, streetlights, signs and verges; disposes of household waste; provides passenger transport information; promotes road safety and protects and enhances the natural and built environment. It also supports economic development.	118.1	154.7
Adult Care Services supports and promotes independence for older people, people with physical and learning disabilities, adults with mental health problems and their carers. The team provides information and advice, enables people to recover and stay in their own home, and arranges care at home or in a care home if their safety is at risk.	357.7	28.2
Public Health focuses on improving health and wellbeing in Hertfordshire, through stop smoking and healthy weight campaigns, for example.	49.3	-
Other services include Registration, Coroners, Libraries and support services and contributions the council has to make to the funding of two organisations - the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and the Environment Agency for flood defence.	121.8	65.8
Total	871.6	366.8

Summary of pressures and savings

Summary of pressures and savings (draft integrated plan) (PDF, 327kb)

This schedule contains a complete list of all investments, pressures and savings planned in the revenue budget for the next 4 years.

It includes new items proposed in this budget round, as well as some items agreed in previous budget rounds that take effect next year.

Pressures (i.e costs) to the council are denoted as positive figures and savings as negative numbers in the document.

Consultation results for last year's budget

Integrated Plan 2020-21 summary of survey results (PDF 250KB)

How we spent our budget in 2019/20

Our total gross revenue budget was £975 million which was divided into:

Adult care - £414 million
Children Services - £202 million
Environment & Infrastructure - £124 million (includes highways, transport, waste and planning for growth pressures)
Resources - £113 million (includes libraries, registration offices, the website and customer service centre)
Public health - £46 million
Community protection - £40 million (includes fire and rescue, trading standards and emergency resilience planning)
Central items - £36 million (includes financing costs of buildings and assets used in the delivery of frontline services).

For more information, see our Annual Prospectus and Budget for 2019/20 (PDF 3.78MB).

More about the services provided by Hertfordshire County Council

A summary of the proposed budget (2021-22) survey results.

We wanted to hear your views about budget spending. Our online survey coincided with publication of the council’s draft Integrated Plan and proposed budget (2021-22). The survey was open from Monday 11 January 2021 until Monday 1 February 2021.

This web page and the survey provided information about the proposed budget including:

• highlights in the proposed budget for 2021-22 (Integrated Plan);

• revenue and capital proposals

• a summary of pressures and savings

• and consultation results for last year’s budget, for reference.

The web page also provided a link to the complete set of draft Integrated Plan documents that had been published in advance of a meeting of Cabinet on 18 January 2021.

The online survey asked five (optional) questions:

• about support (or not) for the proposed allocation of Hertfordshire County Council’s budget as described in the draft Integrated Plan 2021-22

• for comments about the prioritisation of spending

• about support (or not) for increases in council tax: a 1.99% increase in council tax to maintain local services and a further 2% increase to help fund pressures in adult social care

• about possible budget strategy approaches when faced with financial pressures that were summarised as: continuing to streamline services; introducing or increasing fees and/or charges for certain services; working in partnership; helping people to help themselves

• for respondent information (whether respondents were Hertfordshire residents, businesses, and so on).

The survey questions were accompanied by optional equality monitoring questions.

This year we received 945 completed surveys.

Support for the proposed budget?

37.1% of all respondents either strongly agreed or agreed with the proposed allocation of Hertfordshire County Council’s budget as described in the draft Integrated Plan 2021-22 – this is just below the 37.2% who neither agreed nor disagreed. The percentage who either disagreed or strongly disagreed was 24.0% (and 1.6% provided no response).

Support for increases to council tax?

59.9% of total respondents supported an increase in council tax by up to 1.99% to maintain services. 52.6% of total respondents supported a further increase of 2% to help fund pressures in adult social care. However, comments opposing proposed rises in council tax were also received.

Comments

394 or 41.7% of all respondents provided a comment as part of their survey response. Almost half of all comments received (47.58%) related to services – this was the most popular comment theme. Highways was the most commented upon services by broad category, followed by the environment, adult social care, and children’s services. Those comments not relating to services were divided more evenly: relating to the survey or budget documents; relating to the organisation/personnel; relating to council tax; relating to Covid-19; and not relating to the county council. More information about the comments received is provided in the detailed report.

Possible approaches when faced with financial pressures?

When asked about possible approaches the council could undertake when faced with financial pressures, respondents showed support for: continuing to streamline services; working in partnership with other organisations; and helping people to help themselves. However, more people disagreed with a possible approach involving charging for some services than agreed with it.

Respondent information

Most respondents to the survey were Hertfordshire residents (86.1%). The remainder were Hertfordshire residents but also representatives of, for example, businesses or of the charity, voluntary and community sector, amongst others.

Demographics

Some analysis of the demographics of survey respondents showed that respondents aged 45-84 were over-represented. However, data was also weighted for age and other characteristics and further analysis was undertaken. Again, further information is provided in the detailed report.

Integrated Plan and budget engagement

A detailed report about the survey and engagement is available. You can read the report in full as it appeared on the agenda for the meeting of the Resources and Performance Cabinet Panel on 12 February 2021.

The report was also considered by Cabinet on 22 February 2021 and by County Council on 23 February 2021.

Have your say on budget spending

Background

A summary of the proposed budget (2021-22) survey results.

Integrated Plan and budget engagement

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