The initial analysis by officers indicates that a balanced budget will be possible adding slightly to reserves without moving from the position defined during the current year. Savings from redundancies already determined but not yet all implemented should be sufficient.
There are to be major changes this year in council tax rebates and housing benefits, reductions for excess rooms and teh Government are moving towards a single payment instead of a range of benefits. The effect of the caps involved in these will remove some significant anomalies but also make finance even more challenging for many families. The impact on local councils will not be trivial. Small amounts of council tax will be difficult and expensive to collect from people without money, for instance.
