Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire's Draft Fire and Rescue Service Budget and Precept 2021-22
Report of the Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel (The Panel) to the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire (PFCC)
With regard to: the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire’s Draft Fire and Rescue Service Budget and Precept 2021/22.
We are required under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 to consider, and report our views formally to you, on your proposed Budget or Precept for the Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service for 2021/22. Accordingly, we considered those proposals at our meeting on 15 February 2021.
We have the power to veto your precept if we consider it to be too low or too high. In the event of the veto being exercised, a revised proposed precept would be required from you.
You attended the 15 February 2021 panel meeting accompanied by the Director of Finance (Section 151 Officer) for the Fire and Rescue Service and the Chief Executive for the Staffordshire Commissioners Office.
In your introduction to the report you explained that the settlement funding for 2021/22 was £14.571 million made up of:
- Revenue Support Grant (RSG) which had been set at £4.777 million
- Local Business Rates revenue of £3.735 million
- Business Top up of £6.059 million
You reported that the total budget requirement for the Fire and Rescue Service was £41.977 million, a reduction of £427,000 from last year. You were proposing to part fund the balance from Council Tax funding of £27.406 million and proposed an increase of 1.99% per annum (£1.54 pa per Band D property), below the permitted limit of 2%.
You explained that pay costs had reduced, mainly due to the Joint Emergency Transport (JET) staff transferring to the Police Service and the Supplies and Services cost had increased due to proposed investment into IT (Office 365 and ‘Fire Watch’).
The medium-term financial strategy (MTFS) showed a gap of £1.7 million identified for 2022/23 which would increase to £2.9 million by 2025/26. This gap was based on the assumption that the level of RSG would continue to reduce beyond 2021/22 pre-empting the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review and the impact of the results of the Fair Funding Review. The MTFS also assumed additional pension costs resulting from the Sargeant/McCloud pension remedy and the impact of the 2020 Firefighters Pension Scheme valuation. The Panel were concerned that this could have long term implications and challenges for the service. We note that a 5% increase in employment contributions had been included in the MTFS from 2022/23. This is an area we will continue to monitor.
The panel noted that the Settlement Funding was for one year only in view of Government’s Spending Review and we felt that this made for a challenging financial position which made future planning difficult. The current Covid-19 pandemic had also had a significant impact on the tax base and deficits on collection funds from 2020/21.
The panel were informed that utilities and Special Service charges, were reviewed annually, ensuring value for money was achieved.
The proposed precept was supported by the Treasury Management Strategy, the Reserves Strategy and Capital Strategy and Capital Programme for the Service.
The panel unanimously agreed to support the 1.99% increase in the Fire and Rescue Authority Precept for 2021/22.
S. Sweeney, Chairman
Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel
On behalf of the Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel