Wokingham

Wokingham District Council has this week received both good and bad news on its finances.

On the good news front, Wokingham council has received top marks (4 out of 4) in an independent inspection by Audit Commission into the way the council uses its resources.

The CPA 'Use of Resources' assessment is a very extensive look by the Audit Commission at how the council ensures it gets value for money for its services and how well it runs its business in terms of financial management, financial reporting and internal controls.

Corporate head of Wokingham finance Graham Ebers said: “The council has continued to make significant improvements in its use of resources, improving from a highly credible assessment of 3 last year to the top score of 4 this year. It is a very challenging test and only three authorities out of 150 across the country scored a 4 last year, so our result this year puts us in a small group at the top*.”

Council leader Wokingham Cllr Frank Browne said: “I am delighted to see Wokingham receive this independent confirmation that we are prudent in the way we spend tax payers’ money. This demonstrates that Wokingham District Council is amongst the best of making best possible use of our residents’ money, making every pound go as far as it can. My thanks go to all the officers and staff who have all worked extremely hard to achieve this top ranking, which demonstrates very clearly that there is very little waste in the organisation across the board.”

This good news, however, was tempered by Wokingham council’s financial settlement for the 2007-08 financial year from central government.

“At just 2.7 per cent, some 1.1 per cent below national average, this is very disappointing news for the taxpayers of the Wokingham district,” said Cllr Browne.

“In real terms this paltry increase means just £446,000 extra cash for next year – this will not even cover inflation which equates to be approximately £2million.

“It also means we are the worst funded unitary council, with some 80 per cent of our budget having to come from local council tax payers. The average figure for all unitary councils in England and Wales is just over 50 per cent.

"Our settlement is below a very low national average and doesn't bode well for the future. Our grant will only ever increase in line with inflation which simply doesn't add up when we are faced with unavoidable statutory costs well in excess of inflation, particularly in social care.

"We will be asking the district's MPs to lobby ministers to make the case that the 2.7% funding settlement will not cover our unavoidable growth pressures and the extra responsibilities we've been given.

“We have already examined every budget in the council with a fine-tooth comb, making over £10million of savings over the past three years. This is because we are committed to keeping any council tax increase to as close to the rate of inflation as possible, whilst still protecting core services as best we can.”

The budget for 2007/2008 will be agreed at the council meeting on February 22, 2006, when the council tax is set.

Wokingham District Council