Southwark Council “If anyone can, Southwark can”: Delivering the Fairer Future Vision in an age of austerity Councillor Fiona Colley, Cabinet member for Finance, Modernisation & Performance

A values based approach to austerity Key features of our budget development process How we built political and community consent Outcomes Today’s presentation….

A values based approach

From Fairer Future manifesto

To Fairer Future Council Plan

1.Treating every resident as if they were a valued member of our own family 2.Being open, honest and accountable 3.Spending money as if it were from our own pocket 4.Working for everyone to realise their own potential 5.Making Southwark a place to be proud of Turning our values…

1.Prioritise Fairer Future promises and protect services for the most vulnerable 2.Keep any council tax increase at or below inflation 3.Develop a three year balanced budget supported by prudent use of reserves Modernisation and efficiency Partnership working Income generation including new fees Stopping or reducing some services...into guiding budget principles To be achieved through

Consult residents and stakeholders and reflect priorities in budget plans Involve groups impacted by specific changes in transformation Conduct equalities impact assessments Open that reduced budget means reduced workforce AND that work and workload would change Committing to minimise compulsory redundancies via redeployment and retraining and with enhanced voluntary redundancy Commitment to be open, honest & transparent And to treat staff with respect

Budget Challenge

Strategic approach set out in Budget Principles and ballpark savings target as a starting point Then invite bottom up proposals “Budget challenge panel” of chief officers and councillors Safe space - no sacred cows, all options on table Iterative process – pushing for more Digging into detail – is it deliverable? Final proposals reviewed jointly by Cabinet and Chief Officer Team before publication Internal budget challenge – it’s a team game!

Plenty of “low hanging fruit” in first years Agreeing a budget one thing, implementing it is another But plenty of duplication and inefficiency better hidden There are still places left to go Multi-year approach opens up opportunity for invest to save and savings from major restructuring A flexibility about timing, use of reserves and contingency paid off Treating staff with respect and sharing the pain throughout the hierarchy crucial Lessons we learnt

Winning Consent

Political Balance in Southwark

Purpose To involve wider group at earliest stage To build understanding and buy-in To gain ideas and avoid pitfalls To deliver majority approval of budget Budget Policy Working Group Agreed budget principles and narrative Received budget briefings and preview of budget proposals One to ones with ward councillors on key issues Full Group Multiple budget debates and final approval Early engagement with majority group

Aims To communicate the challenge and our approach To consult on priorities To take people on journey Channels Key messages via local media, council magazine, social media Engagement via public and stakeholder meetings Budget “cheque game” and interactive voting at meetings and online Community & Stakeholder Engagement

To Fairer Future Council Plan

The council committed to freezing council tax because it believes this would hit people hard in tough times. Council Tax should be frozen again in 2016/17

They said Support for budget principles approach Consistent wish to protect children's services and social care, libraries and street cleaning Open to small council tax increases We did Keep all libraries open and ring fenced children’s social care Increased council tax 2% for Adult Social Care Reduced management tiers and merged teams Closed cash payment offices, One Stop Shop, cut contact centre hours, stopped free food waste bins, charge for bulky waste collection with online only service, fair contributions for social care Responding to consultation

The results

Since promises delivered, 58 more on track

Successfully met the financial challenge of achieving £156m savings since 2010 whilst protecting frontline services Smart investment in infrastructure and facilities in the borough, using the proceeds of regeneration and growth (e.g. new library and leisure centres) Managed finances well “Ahead of the curve” economically, able to take advantage of land values, strategic location in central London Better placed than most to deal with future financial challenge of further squeeze on public finances Local Government Association Peer Review 2015 Shortlisted for MJ “Council of the Year” 2016

Be clear about your priorities, values and narrative from the start Work as a team throughout – officers and politicians Sweat the small things – are they worth it? Make sure your key stakeholders and most active citizens are engaged and understand the challenges and choices Keep talking and keep listening Lessons learnt