Covid-19 is costing Falkirk Council millions of pounds

Falkirk Council faced a challenging financial position when it set its budget in February – but little did it know that things could only get worse at an incredible speed as the coronvirus crisis took hold.
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Today (Thursday), at a meeting of the council’s emergency executive, councillors will consider a report that shows the virus could leave the council £14 million worse off.

And that could mean members revisiting decisions that were made in February as figures suggest it will now be even harder to find the money to bring back pest control, provide flowers and hanging baskets and offer free special uplifts.

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All of these were agreed in February’s budget – when Labour and Conservative councillors voted against the leading SNP group’s budget.

But now councillors are being asked to look again at any saving that could be made including closing public toilets and canteens in council buildings.

The pandemic has cost the council £4 million in lost fees – affecting everything from parking charges to planning applications – the meeting will hear.

It has hit the leisure services provided by Falkirk Community Trust hard with a £3 million loss of revenue so far and the prospect that it will be a long time before things are back to anything like normal for its gyms, libraries and theatres.

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Councils, including Falkirk, will not be immune to the general economic downturn which is expected to continue and even worsen as government help, such as the furlough scheme, comes to an end.

Council tax revenue is expected to be down by around £1 million as many people have found themselves unable to pay while new houses that would have brought in extra revenue have been delayed.

They also estimate that rent arrears could increase by around £2.7 million during 2020/21 although most of that will eventually be repaid.

The report notes that Falkirk is not alone in facing this situation and quotes a paper by Cosla which states: “There is a realisation that there will simply be less cash in the whole system and as a consequence some services will have to be significantly reconfigured or stopped altogether as things are prioritised.”

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And the cut in revenue is only part of the picture – the council is also facing the prospect of soaring costs, particularly in children’s services and health and social care.

The reports states that the biggest impact is expected on children’s services which estimates additional unbudgeted costs of around £7.4 million for areas such as building cleaning, school transport and nursery provision.

The council’s flagship early years education programme, funded by the Scottish Government, to provide 1140 hours of nursery education to all three and four year olds will also be part of the discussion.

The service has been caught up in a row when the intention to stop providing the extra hours – usually 30 a week, although it is flexible – was communicated to parents via a Tweet.

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The money that funded the programme is no longer ring fenced and councillors could take the chance to use some of it to plug the massive financial gap that children’s services is facing due to the crisis.

Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn said: “Extensive work has already been carried out to date on our 1140 provision and this remains our long term goal but, as parents and carers will appreciate, the events of the past three months make it difficult to deliver exactly what we had originally hoped in the timescales we predicted.”

However members of the Labour group have said they are unhappy at the 1140 offer being withdrawn, particularly in centres that were already offering it, pre-Covid-19.

Councillor Alan Nimmo, Labour’s children’s services spokesman said: “In view of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing absence of pupils from education in Falkirk it is important that the 1140 hours is implemented as soon as possible.

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“It is important that we move back to 1140 hours provision in those places where we already had it whenever it is safe to do so.

“This will also, in a lot of cases ,allow parents to return to work and help to alleviate any financial worries that they might have been experiencing due to the pandemic.”

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