1st Labour Government budget 2024

 

Labour Housing Group: "How can the Labour Government Deliver on Housing"

 

On Saturday I went to this conference in Camden which had a great range of key note speakers and workshops.

Lots and lots of great ideas, changes and initiatives but I do worry that while the supply and condition of our housing stock can be improved by important changes such as planning reform, getting rid of no fault evictions and right to buy etc. 

We will not be able to build enough affordable homes without significant public subsidy. 

This is a huge problem since the Government simply does not have enough money to do everything it wants (and needs) to do. 

Lets see what happens at the Autumn budget this week. Fingers crossed but...

UNISON Greater London activists met with Christina McAnea ahead of tomorrow's government spending review.

 

 

UNISON Greater London activists met with Christina McAnea ahead of tomorrow's government spending review.

Our message to Rishi Sunak is clear: The government must find the money for the pay rise our members deserve.

Check out Christina's blog here https://www.unison.org.uk/news/2021/10/blog-the-government-tries-to-look-like-its-giving-but-its-taking-away/

Newham Council Budget Consultation for 2021

 

Check out the wider budget consultation here and the Eat For Free here

Share your views on our 2021/22 budget proposals 

We have written up our proposed budget for 2021/22, and we want to hear what you think about our proposals and our budget priorities.

Our budget report includes:

• The financial background to the budget 
• How the  budget supports the council’s Towards a Better Newham recovery and reorientation strategy 
• Our spending commitments 
• Our savings proposals 
• The funding we receive from central Government 
• Emerging pressures and risks that could affect our future spending 
• Council tax setting 
• Our balances and reserves

You can view the Budget report, which was approved by Cabinet on December 1, 2020.  

The proposals 

Our budget proposals aim to support the priorities outlined in our Towards a Better Newham recovery and reorientation strategy – helping the borough to recover from the worst impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and investing in long-term strategies that will enable Newham’s communities to thrive in the future.

The proposals include: 

• Investing in education – including £36m for school expansions to create additional spaces for pupils 
• More than 1,000 new council homes, and improvements to existing homes 
• £1.5m investment in leisure services 
• A commitment to keeping each of Newham’s 10 libraries open
• £11.5m for Brighter Futures, including youth empowerment and early help 
• £11m to Keep Newham Moving through long-term investment in roads, footpaths and street lighting 
• Protecting the Council Tax Support Scheme, which helps low income households who are unable to pay 
• Maintaining weekly waste collections, but introducing an annual charge for garden waste collections 
• Continuing to pay all staff at least the London Living Wage, and maintaining an ongoing commitment to national terms and conditions 
• Maintaining our enforcement partnership with the Met Police 
• Considering raising council tax by up to 5% 
• Making back-office savings to functions such as council IT and admin 
• Introducing emissions-based parking permits, with an increase in fees for households with the most polluting vehicles, or additional vehicles 
• Savings to the Eat for Free primary school meals scheme 
• Removing the £200 per week cap on adult social care fees

Share your views 

We want to know what you think about our priorities and proposals. How might they impact you, and your community? Are there any residents you think might be more affected by the proposals?

You can share your views by email to newham.budget@newham.gov.uk and we will be holding three public engagement sessions in January 2021 – further details including times, dates and how to register to attend will be published here shortly.

If you are a local business or trader, you can join the Newham Chamber of Commerce briefing on December 16. Further details will be available shortly.

"Newham’s left wing Mayor challenges Tory austerity in her first budget"

Hat tip "Labour Against Austerity"

By Daniel Blaney

"The Mayor [of Newham] has set out a clear ambition for housing in Newham, with a particular focus on increasing social housing stock in the borough.

This will require significant Council capital investment to complement the £107 million Greater London Authority grant under the Building Council Homes for Londoners programme.” 

That is the introductory paragraph of a paper at the December 2018 meeting of Newham’s Cabinet, approving a business plan for Newham’s “Housing Revenue Account” – the obligation to account separately for Council-owned social housing. Its technical material, and language quoted is a little dry, but perhaps it illustrates best the political change emerging from the replacement of Sir Robin Wales as Mayor in May 2018 with Rokhsana Fiaz. 

The February 2019 budget is new Mayor’s first budget. She and her cabinet colleagues regularly tout this as a ‘transitional’ budget, clearly frustrated it doesn’t in itself demonstrate the sum of the political ambition, but marks a significant change of direction. 

A more radical, transformative 2nd budget is to be prepared over the next twelve months. In reality, the housing aspects of this first budget are already radical and transformational. The fact that the “Housing Revenue Account” business plan is being transformed, is a demonstration of the role of actual council housing in the new Mayor’s priorities, both in terms of investment by building new council housing, and in investment in existing stock, improving the housing of existing tenants in their current homes. 

The London Borough of Newham is recovering from a scandal in its “Repairs and Maintenance Service”, which was exposed by the actions of a whistleblower in the last months of the Robin Wales administration. The service had been re-modelled to be prepared for commercialisation and was expected to behave like a business – and so commissioned to work on the Borough’s highways maintenance, but without a proper system of checks and controls. Millions of pounds were lost. 

This became more widely known through the publication of a report by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), commissioned by Rokhsana Fiaz immediately on taking office. The practical reality for residents in Newham’s council housing is the repairs and maintenance service is much more about repairs and much less about maintenance. 

The first budget of the new Mayor effectively doubles asset investment in existing council housing, to £65 million in 2019/20. The detailed capital programme identifies work on lifts, boiler replacements, kitchens, bathrooms, windows, roofs, door entry systems and much more. 

The CIPFA report criticised a poor balance of planned and reactive maintenance, and so the capital programme should now stop leakage of public money through inefficient reactive spend. Meanwhile millions are allocated to find new council homes for Newham’s staggering waiting list. 

£28 million is allocated for acquisitions, including where sensible, Right-to-buy buy-backs. £82 million is allocated to the council building its own new build homes. Much of this funding comes from £107 million Sadiq Khan granted to London Borough of Newham as part of Khan’s Building Council Homes for Londoners programme – the largest allocation to any London Borough. 

The Affordable Homes for Newham Programme was agreed on 5 February 2019 and will “seek approval for new build and acquisition programmes at the earliest opportunity”. The budget sets aside £500,000 to fund 26 full time equivalent professional staff to work on the Affordable Homes for Newham Programme. 

The HRA business plan, the GLA funding and the Affordable Homes for Newham Programme all demonstrate Rokhsana Fiaz is likely to exceed her election pledge to deliver 1000 new homes at council rent levels. 

Meanwhile this ‘transitional’ budget is radically investing in children and young people. £1.2 million extra has been budgeted to guarantee the universality of Newham’s free school meals programme “Eat for Free” for Key Stage 2 pupils; £1.4 million is for additional youth services; £1.3 million for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. 

Separately £3 million is allocated to work on Newham’s accreditation as a London Living Wage employer. The investment prioritised by the new Mayor is all the more remarkable given the general financial situation for Newham, as across local government; continued austerity imposed by central government further decreases government support for poverty stricken areas like Newham; Lyn Brown MP made a brilliant speech to this effect in parliament a few days ago and the challenges for local government are enormous. 

This year savings are coming from, amongst other things, fewer editions of Robin Wales’ vanity Newham Mag, previously published monthly; ending Robin Wales’ “Small Business Programme”; and more effective and active asset management. Council Tax rises by less than inflation, and for those eligible, the Council Tax Reduction Scheme cuts their Council Tax by half. 

Savings of £686,000 to Robin Wales’ “Every Child a Musician” programme have caused controversy, but the programme itself is controversial, regarded as a well-intentioned but inefficient and ineffective programme by various educational and music professionals. 

The Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accounting noted poor budget planning at Newham generally, but specifically cited Every Child for where previous expenditure increases had lacked budgetary oversight, and further overspends took place that were, in CIPFA’s view, unsustainable. CIPFA recommended the programme needed to be “re-evaluated” and the Council has pledged to do so. 

It proposes months of engagement on establishing a new more “ambitious creative and cultural enrichment programme” that will be available to all Newham children and which will serve the diverse cultural interests of Newham children. 

Meanwhile millions of pounds are allocated for additional support and preventive work on homelessness and rough sleeping, on democratically regenerating the Carpenters Estate and more generally demonstrating that Labour in local government is no longer aligned to the era of New Labour and is demonstrating how in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, Labour in office can actually deliver for its people. 

* All figures relates to 2019-20 unless otherwise stated.

"Invest £6.3m so that primary school children continue to eat for free"

"We are proposing to ensure primary school children continue to eat for free in the borough by investing £6.3million. Full Council will make a decision on our 2019/20 budget proposals at a meeting on Monday 18 February. #NewhamPeoplesBudget

Hat tip Newham Council

Newham Peoples Budget Forum - East Ham

Picture collage from this evenings consultation forum at Newham Town Hall. Which I thought went very well. I chaired the meeting due to last minute illness. The Mayor, Cabinet lead for Finance and officers did excellent presentations. Residents gave lots of feedback (and push back) but  there was broad support for keeping "eat for free" for primary school kids, increasing youth services, paying London Living wage for all carers, increasing Council tax while at the same time reducing it by nearly 50% for our poorest residents.

All in all a good day. Many thanks to all the borough staff involved in these forums (and for the photos).  A really professional event.

The last forum will be:-

Stratford & West Ham	​Thursday 24 January	​10.30am- 1pm	​Old Town Hall, Stratford, 29 The Broadway, Stratford, E15 4BQ

People’s Budget Forums video

"Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz and her Cabinet members have listened to the views of residents and put forward proposals for how Newham Council intends to spend money on what people say is important.
Join us at our next People’s Budget Forums to find out more and have your say. For dates, times and registration, visit www.newham.gov.uk/NewhamPeoplesBudget"

Hat tip #NewhamLondon

OPINION: Community Links life-president Kevin Jenkins wonders how Newham can maintain services on a council tax freeze

This article was in last weeks local Newspaper, the "Newham Recorder". I have had no contact with Kevin about this but it would appear that this highly respected former senior Councillor shares some of my my concerns about the recent budget. 

"Once again the Mayor of Newham is recommending to Newham Council a budget which includes no increase in the Newham element of council tax - for the ninth year running, no additional precept for social care and saving of £80.08 million without cutting frontline services. I’m sure such a budget will be very popular with the electorates.

Probably much less popular will be my view, that perhaps the freeze on the council tax and not taking the opportunity to raise additional resources for social care is one freeze and one missed opportunity too many. I am conscious that I do not have view of the detailed data that the mayor and council have, my instincts are based on a combination of the data I can see, my year round observations and personal experiences. My key concerns

are:

1. Although this year’s budget proposals may retain the current frontline services, these frontline services are a lot less than they were three, four or five years ago, for example, there are a lot less youth clubs, holiday playschemes, advice services, more erratic street sweeping in residential roads, poorer quality and less used parks etc.

Similarly, although a frontline service is still there, if the essential criteria required to access the services is raised, fewer people will benefit from the services even though they are still there. More worryingly, over a period of time, services that were originally preventative become reactive due to the ever increasing access criteria, meaning that problems and issues are dealt with when they are much more deep rooted and much harder to resolve, costing more money to do than they would have done at a much earlier stage.

2. It’s always easier and more popular to cut the back office, however, the frontline services do need back office support. I fear that the back office services in Newham are creaking and may not be able to continue supporting the frontline due to the continuous cuts they are enduring.

3. Although the restructuring on the repayments of the council’s debt is welcome, the actual overall level of council debt (and growing) is concerning, especially in the medium to long term.

4. The most concerning, is the failure to take the opportunity of raising additional funds for social care. The level of real genuine need in Newham far outstrips the services available, which no restructuring or new ways of doing things will cure. These services which effect the most vulnerable in the borough need additional resources to deliver the quality of care that the people need and deserve.

Although I applaud the efforts of the Mayor and council to balance the books, there does come a time when you need to increase the pot rather than rearranging inadequate resources within the pot".

Hardship funds & Social care crisis: Proposed amendments to Newham Council Budget 2017/18

This is my proposed amendment to the budget which the Newham Council meeting on Monday 27 February 2017 should consider.  See my previous post on this issue.

What I am hoping to do is persuade (there is a free vote) my fellow Labour Councillors on Monday to:-

(1) vote to increase Council tax by 1.99% for this year (which has not been increased for 9 years and is still less than expected inflation for this year) which will set up two hardship funds for Newham families affected by Tory cuts to Council tax benefits and housing benefit curbs.

(2) Also levy a 2% Council Tax precept for extra money specifically to help tackle the Adult Social Care Crisis and bed blocking in our local NHS hospitals.

If a simple majority of Councillors support this amendment then it "pauses" the budget for the Mayor to "reflect upon" the proposed change and consider bringing back his own amendment at a second meeting. You need a two thirds majority of Councillors to overturn his proposal at that meeting,  I really hope that we can come to an agreement over this with the Mayor.

While we cannot reverse Central Government Tory cuts on the vulnerable and low paid families in Newham, we can try and mitigate it as best we can.

"The increase in council tax will enable the Council :-

• to establish a Hardship Fund of £750,000 for Council Tax Reduction scheme claimants in Newham; 
• to establish a Discretionary Housing Payment “top-up” fund of £750,000 to better help those affected by the Government’s lower Benefit Cap. 

This is because:-

• That 8,949 Council Tax Reduction scheme claimants in Newham were in arrears in 2015/16, and that 5,386 of those with served with a court summons for late-payment, and 1,560 had bailiffs instructed against them; 
• Several London boroughs have either chosen not to introduce a Minimum Payment (charge) for CTR claimants or exempt disabled claimants or establish “Hardship Funds” for those in financial difficulty; 
• According to the Department for Work & Pensions, the lower Benefit Cap will adversely affect around 800 families in Newham, leaving some of those with such serious rent shortfalls that they may fall into arrears and face eviction and homelessness; 
• In 2016/17, DWP allocated Newham £1.552 million in Discretionary Housing Payment funding to help those facing the Bedroom Tax and Benefit Cap, and a similar sum is expected in 2017/18; 
• In nearby Tower Hamlets, a fund of up to £1 million is being established in 2017/18 to “top-up” the Government’s DHP pot. 
• The number of Council Tax Reduction scheme claimants falling into arrears and facing enforcement action makes it clear these charges are an unbearable strain on Newham’s poorest households, and that a Hardship Fund is needed; 
• The Government’s Discretionary Housing Payment funding is not sufficient to cover the rent shortfalls of tenants hit by the Bedroom Tax and the lower Benefit Cap, and that Newham should top this pot up from the General Fund. 
• The agreement to accept the governments offer to set an Adults Social Care Precept will increase the boroughs ability to support residents with their social care needs and prevent strain on our much needed local NHS resources

Agenda item 12: The Council’s Budget Framework 2017/18 – The Mayor’s Final Revenue Budget Proposals, Medium Term Budget Strategy to 2019/20 and Council Tax Setting Proposals

https://mgov.newham.gov.uk/documents/s110719/Final%20Budget%20Report%202017%202018%20Council%20final.pdf

That Council;  

 

1. Delete recommendation  1. And replace with:-Agree the Council’s General Fund Budget Requirement for 2017/18 be set at £233 million

2. Delete recommendation 4 and replace with :- Agree to accept the Government’s offer to set an Adults Social Care Precept of 2% on Council Tax in 2017/18

3. Delete recommendation  6 And replace with:-Agree the Newham Council element of Council Tax for 2017/18 be increased by 1.99% This results in a local element Band D level of £964.44

4. Agrees to establish:

                     i.            a Hardship Fund of £750,000 for Council Tax Reduction scheme claimants in Newham; and

                   ii.            to establish a Discretionary Housing Payment “top-up” fund of £750,000 to better help those affected by the Government’s lower Benefit Cap.

Agenda Item 13: Council Tax 2017/18

https://mgov.newham.gov.uk/documents/s110720/Council%20Tax%20Report%202017-18%20Council%20final.pdf

That Council

1. Delete 1. And replace with: Agree that the Newham Council element of Council Tax for 2017/18 be increase by 1.99% This results in a local element Band D level of £964.44

2. Delete 3. And replace with: Agree to accept the Government’s offer to set an Adults Social Care Precept of 2% on Council Tax in 2017/18      

7 days to come out with new ideas about Newham Council budget 2017?

At the Newham Council meeting next Monday 27 February 2017 there will be a free vote of all Labour Councillors on the proposed Mayor;s budget. All Councillors in Newham are Labour so this an important development and I congratulate my Labour Group colleagues for agreeing to this.

As a Labour movement activist, I am a firm believer in collective responsibility (when democratically arrived at). When we have a Council with a powerful Executive Mayor and where there is no political opposition, this means that we have a responsibility to debate important issues, such as the budget, in public rather than it being decided behind closed doors in Labour Group and subject to a "whipped" vote.

That doesn't mean it should be a "free for all" nor an exercise in futile grandstanding.

The reality is that Council finances are dependent on Central Government funding which each year is being cut and cut and cut. It is also too late in the budget process for us to have a meaningful debate about the 2017/18 budget (but I live in hope) so the discussion at Council on Monday is in my view a more general debate about the future direction of Council finance.

If anyone has any ideas and practical proposals about the budget then please let me know. Details of the agenda is here

Why union branches have to follow the money...

Picture from last weeks packed Greater London workshop on branch finance in the UNISON centre. NEC Chair of the Finance Committee, Josie Bird, led the training supported by National and Regional officers.

The aims of the training were:-

• To understand the principles of activity-based budgeting (ABB) 
• Discuss the benefits of activity-based budgeting to your branch
• Consider how OLBA functions can help support the budgeting process
• To identify the next steps for activity-based budgeting within your branch

It was an exceptional turnout for a training on branch finance. It used to be the case in some branches that financial planning and budgeting wasn't all that important. They would just role over the last years accounts and add a bit for inflation. Thankfully this is no longer the case in most branches (I hope). The entire union movement is under attack by this Government and we have to make sure that all our money is used effectively to defend us.

I was there as Regional Finance conveyor. I closed the training by thanking the all those who helped organise this meeting and especially my NEC comrade, Josie Bird. I am proud that my union grows its rank and file lay activists, so they can take on such positions of responsibility.

I also pointed out I used to be a treasurer of a branch that had hundreds of thousands of pounds in reserves, which was very scary for someone who didn't have a finance background. I wish then I had the kit and support that is now on offer.

At the best of times it is vital that we have sound financial governance, never mind nowadays, the worse of times, when we need to make sure that every penny we have is well spent.

We must never forget either that our funds do not belong to the "union" nor to the "branches" they belong to our members and it is our absolute duty to make sure that they are spend properly and solely in their interests.

Picture of  London Regional Secretary, Linda Perks, leading discussion on workshop outcomes.

Gregg McClymont MP: Rethinking Pensions Conference 2014

Picture of Labour Shadow Minister for Pensions Gregg McClymont MP, speaking at last months "Rethinking Pensions" conference. 

This took place only a day after the Budget, when the Government announced its plan to allow personal pension policy holders to "cash in" their accounts when they retire rather than buy an annuity. 

Gregg apologised to us that he would have to leave early since he had to go to the House of Commons to listen to Coalition Pension Minister, Steve Webb MP give further details of the proposed changes. 

This is the sort of situation when politicians earn their money. A massive change in pension policy (and largely unexpected by all including the media) was less than 24 hours old yet the "Loyal Opposition" had to come out very quickly with a considered response. 

Gregg suggested that he could be using this conference as a test bed for the debate in Parliament later that day. He wants more detail about the Budget proposals but thought that the the new approach of yesterday, seemed to be a move away from the Turner Commission consensus building on Auto-enrolment? It also seems at odds with the apparent government support for Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) schemes? How can CDC work if people take their money out in cash at age 55? How can you share the risk? Who and how will this "advice" to savers be provided? Are pensions becoming an Individual Savings Accounts (ISA)? 

As well as being a professional politician (and of course in my view on the side of the forces of light and reason), Gregg is also a former Oxford don - so was able to think on his feet and give a good account of himself. 

Check out this article in Professional Pensions about what I think is the debate between Greg and Steve Webb later that day in Parliament.

My own initial views on the Budget proposals are here. 

Budget & Pensions - throwing out the baby with the bath water?

"Answered prayers cause more tears than those that remain unanswered".

Don't get me wrong I have blogged recently here and here about how poor value pension annuities are for many people.

Yet instead of reforming annuities and making them better the government will now allow people to just cash in all their pension pots when they retire and spend it as they like.

Now this may be clever politics but it will be potentially disastrous for many working people and for all taxpayers.

For generations there has been a trade off where a pension saver gets in return for life long generous tax relief (and for higher rate taxpayers - very generous relief)  an obligation to spend 75% of this money to buy a guaranteed life long income called an annuity.  The "deal" is that tax relief is justified because the money will stop people being dependent on the taxpayer when they retire. As Nigel Stanley from the TUC argues here this break in the trade off will also mean that the principle of pension tax relief itself will be under threat.

The very wealthy will use this huge concession to rip off the tax payer which will also bring tax relief for pensions into even further disrepute. 

I actually agree that most people will not "squander" their pensions savings when they retire but to be clear this will happen. In a small minority of cases people will indeed fritter the money away but in other cases they will be robbed and deceived by the ever present financial services sharks and charlatans, who will no doubt be now rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect.

The government claims that it doesn't matter if people squander their private pension since they will have the new State Pension of £150 per week to fall back on? As I have pointed out in the past it costs £150 per week just to rent a one bedroom flat above a Chicken shop in Newham. If you privately rent (which is a growing sector ) then you will have indeed an incentive to blow your pension money on "holidays of a lifetime" and then expect the taxpayer to pay your rent. You would in fact be a fool not to do this.

But the very worse thing about this budget proposal is that instead of reforming the broken annuity market it will mean that annuities remain discredited.  People will also be so fearful of running out of money when they grow old that they will keep the money in the building society on deposit and live miserable lives dependent on tiny amounts of interest while inflation cuts the value of their lump sum, year in and year out.

By coincidence I was at the "Rethinking Pensions" conference the day after last weeks budget. This was of course a live issue and I will post further on the 1st day of the conference.

Hat tip picture Nigel Stanley clever response to the stupid and condescending Tory Party Chairman Grant Shapps.