Category: News

As you will be aware the current cost of living crisis is affecting all organisations, and Local Government is not immune from that pain. The lasting effects of Covid, alongside other global and national events, have led to inflation levels not seen since the early 1980s. This has also not been helped by the year-in-year-out cuts to Local Government budgets passed on by the Scottish Government.

Stirling Council is now looking at a budget gap of £23m for 2023-24. Without a significant response, that is estimated to grow to almost £35m by 2025-26.

Stirling Council is already looking at what they can do and how they do it so that they can better support the workforce, serve our communities, and maintain financial sustainability.

Stirling Council is asking services to identify savings proposals that equate to 10% of their 2022-23 net budget. This work will need to be done by the end of this month.

It’s evident that savings of this scale won’t be possible without cuts to services and a likely reduction in the number of staff working for the Council over the next 12-18 months. Please be assured that we currently have a No Compulsory Redundancy commitment and the focus is on anyone leaving the Council doing so voluntarily, and we will work closely with management throughout the process, in line with our existing Organisational Change Policy. Please be assured  UNISON does not support job losses, however, given the budget gap it is inevitable that savings have to be made. We have concerns for those staff who will be working to deliver services where the workforce is reduced. Please be assured we will work closely with the employer to ensure there are the appropriate processes are followed should staffing resources be reduced within your service.

We know how unsettling all of this will be, and we’ll keep you informed and involved at every stage.

Audit Commission LG Finance Bulletin

The Audit Commission today published its Local Government Finance Bulletin This independent analysis confirms that:

• Councils face the most difficult budget-setting context seen for many years with the ongoing impacts of Covid-19, inflation and the cost of living crisis. They will need to continue to make recurring savings and increasingly difficult choices with their spending priorities, including, in some cases, potential service reductions.
• Two-thirds of councils intend to use reserves to help bridge the 2022/23 gap between anticipated expenditure and revenue (budget gap) of £0.4 billion but this reliance on non-recurring reserves is not sustainable in the medium to long term.
• An increasing proportion of local government funding is now either formally ring-fenced or provided with the expectation it will be spent on specific services. They calculate this to be 23 per cent of total revenue funding in 2021/22. Ring-fenced and directed funding helps support the delivery of key Scottish Government policies but removes local discretion and flexibility over how these funds can be used by councils.
• Revenue funding from the Scottish Government to the local government between 2013/14 and 2021/22 increased by 6.1 per cent (in real terms) whereas Scottish Government revenue funding to other parts of the Scottish Government budget increased by a significantly higher figure of 27.2 per cent over the same period.
• Total net debt (total debt less cash and investments) has increased across councils by £0.2 billion to £16.4 billion. Fifteen councils have increased their net debt in 2021/22. This compares to eight councils in 2020/21.  Councils’ total debt has increased by £0.3 billion to £19 billion; this may be related to the increased need to borrow to fund capital expenditure, with 19 out of 32 councils having increased long-term borrowing from the previous year and 15 councils with increased short-term borrowing compared to the previous year
• The 2022/23 estimated budget gap as a proportion of the 2021/22 net cost of services varied across councils from an anticipated surplus of 0.2 per cent to a gap of 23 per cent.
• Scottish Government revenue funding in 2022/23 decreased by 0.1 per cent in real terms when non-recurring funding elements are excluded and total revenue funding will fall by 2.4 per cent in real terms in 2022/23.
• When Covid-19 funding in 2021/22 is removed from their analysis they find that the Scottish Government budget is set to increase by seven per cent in real terms, as opposed to a real-terms cut in local government funding of 0.1 per cent.

The National Care Service Bill has significant implications for staff pensions.

Please see below

• a briefing for members in social care and social work on what the bill means for their pension
• a longer briefing which identifies significant risks to workforce pensions, employer finances, and pension fund stability resulting from the current proposals.
  
  

The Audit Commission today published its Local Government Finance Bulletin  This independent analysis confirms that:

• Councils face the most difficult budget-setting context seen for many years with the ongoing impacts of Covid-19, inflation and the cost of living crisis. They will need to continue to make recurring savings and also make increasingly difficult choices with their spending priorities, including, in some cases, potential service reductions.
  
• Two-thirds of councils intend to use reserves to help bridge the 2022/23 gap between anticipated expenditure and revenue (budget gap) of £0.4 billion but this reliance on non-recurring reserves is not sustainable in the medium to long term.
  
• An increasing proportion of local government funding is now either formally ring-fenced or provided with the expectation it will be spent on specific services. They calculate this to be 23 per cent of total revenue funding in 2021/22. Ring-fenced and directed funding helps support the delivery of key Scottish Government policies but removes local discretion and flexibility over how these funds can be used by councils.
  
• Revenue funding from the Scottish Government to the local government between 2013/14 and 2021/22 increased by 6.1 per cent (in real terms) whereas Scottish Government revenue funding to other parts of the Scottish Government budget increased by a significantly higher figure of 27.2 per cent over the same period.
  
• Total net debt (total debt less cash and investments) has increased across councils by £0.2 billion to £16.4 billion. Fifteen councils have increased their net debt in 2021/22. This compares to eight councils in 2020/21.  Councils’ total debt has increased by £0.3 billion to £19 billion; this may be related to the increased need to borrow to fund capital expenditure, with 19 out of 32 councils having increased long-term borrowing from the previous year and 15 councils with increased short-term borrowing compared to the previous year
  
• The 2022/23 estimated budget gap as a proportion of the 2021/22 net cost of services varied across councils from an anticipated surplus of 0.2 per cent to a gap of 23 per cent.
  
• Scottish Government revenue funding in 2022/23 decreased by 0.1 per cent in real terms when non-recurring funding elements are excluded and total revenue funding will fall by 2.4 per cent in real terms in 2022/23.
  
• When Covid-19 funding in 2021/22 is removed from their analysis they find that the Scottish Government budget is set to increase by seven per cent in real terms, as opposed to a real-terms cut in local government funding of 0.1 per cent.

Rishi Sunak is trying to force his anti-union “sack key workers bill” through parliament in a matter of weeks. It means that when workers democratically vote to strike, they could be forced to work and sacked if they don’t. That’s wrong, unworkable, and almost certainly illegal. We need to stop this bill.

These new laws are a direct attack on working people’s fundamental right to strike to defend their pay, terms and conditions.

Here’s how you can take part

Protect the right to strike day

Along with the TUC, we are coordinating a protect the right to strike day on Wednesday 1 February. Book a ticket for our Defend the Right to Strike Rally in Glasgow.

Solidarity with worker striking on the 1st of February
Join our solidarity rally.  Scottish workers in the civil service, higher education, some schools, some rail operators and Co-op Funeral Care will all be taking industrial action on the 1st.  Join our joint strike rally at the Donald Dewar Steps, Buchanan Street at 12 noon.
Edinburgh
A rally is also being organised for Edinburgh.  Click  here for details which will be uploaded asap
Petition
Sign the petition and join the campaign. 

Lobby your MP

Whatever party your MP is in, you have a part to play in stopping this bill in its tracks. 
Use forms to request a meeting here.

Be part of the social media storm

Get on social media channels and get the message out by using #RightToStrike. We need people to know that their right to strike is under attack