What does the Mayor’s Proposed Budget 2014-17 mean for the Voluntary and Community Sector? What is it? Bristol Mayor George Ferguson has published the proposed budget for 2014-17. The Mayor says he is “suggesting a three year budget, unlike any Bristol has seen before. It prioritises spending money where it can make the most difference, whilst also facing up to the harsh economic realities of government cuts and an increasing demand for services. These pressures have left me needing to make vast savings of around £90 million over the next three years, even though the council has already saved that much over the past three years, resulting in cuts on cuts.”
The consultation, which started 18 November and runs until 30 December, asks for comments on the proposals and alternatives. The papers include: • • • •
• Help to close the city’s inequality gap. • Create resilient communities where more people can help themselves and each other. • Change the council to make it more efficient • Stimulate investment, growth and jobs in the Bristol economy. • Make sure we are well prepared and ready to handle further government cuts which we expect in the future.” Budget consultation papers are available at: goo.gl/7YI0UC
The State of the City and the Mayor’s Vision for Bristol At the same time as releasing the budget proposals, the Mayor published two other major documents. The State of the City report describes what has happened in the first year of Bristol having an elected Mayor. The State of the City report is available at: goo.gl/Ycugar
Principles and things they are putting first. Why there is a budget gap. How to balance the budget and close the gap. A full account of the Mayor’s State of the City Impacts of the savings. annual address, given on 18 November 2013, is available at: goo.gl/GWi8SK. The proposals open with a statement of principles: “We don’t want to come up with The Mayor’s new Vision for Bristol describes his proposals which affect our most vulnerable six priorities organised by three core themes of people or which stop us achieving our aims for People, Place and Prosperity. The summary of the city. Here are the principles we’re working to: the vision is as follows (see next page). The full Vision for Bristol is available at goo.gl/cEtdMW • Protect vital services for those who need them most.
• A vision for people Healthy and caring Bristol
Bristol to be a place where the cared for and the caring, young and old, are respected and valued members of our society; and where living healthy, happy and safe lives is the shared aspiration for every citizen.
Keep Bristol working and learning
Bristol to be a learning city where every citizen has access to the very best education and is able to acquire the skills they need to join Bristol’s world class workforce.
• A vision for place Keep Bristol moving
Bristol to be a city where public transport provides an affordable quality alternative to the car, where streets are no longer clogged with traffic, our air is cleaner, and it is increasingly attractive to walk and cycle.
Building successful places
Bristol to be a city of well-connected neighbourhoods with a strong sense of identity and belonging, where a diverse mix of housing types and tenures ensure that homes are increasingly affordable.
• A vision for prosperity Global Green Capital
Bristol to harness the energy of everyone in the city to maximise the opportunity of our Green Capital year of 2015 as a platform for promoting the city on the world stage, to attract investment growth and jobs.
Vibrant Bristol
Bristol to be a place where the streets are alive with activity, and where every citizen and community participates in the cultural life of our city.
• Empowered city
Bristol to be a city more in control of its own future and where its governance is modernised to fit the mayoral model as part of the movement to free our great English cities from stifling central control.
• Active citizens
Bristol to be a place where we celebrate and champion the diversity of our population and every individual, organisation, business and community is encouraged to play an active role in the life of the city.
How does the proposed budget affect the VCS? Many Bristol City Council services are affected by the proposed budget reductions. Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations are also affected – by proposed reductions in direct funding and by the increased demand for their services that will result from other services being cut. Reductions are proposed to some 63 service areas. Voscur’s preliminary analysis indicates that some of these will significantly affect VCS organisations in the city. These include: • Preventing homelessness commissioned services – reduction of £350,000 for a range of commissioned supported housing for young people (including some care leavers), ex-offenders, people with mental health issues (including women). Most of the services are medium and lower support for people on a homelessness pathway to independence. • Prevention budget – reduction of £340,000 of pump priming funding for preventative health and social care initiatives. • Housing related support – reduction of £80,000 in housing related support services delivered through a variety of service providers at an average cost of £16 per hour. Savings to be realised by reviewing more expensive services. • Crime reduction projects (domestic and sexual violence) – reduced by £100,000. • Community transport – A thorough review of the grant funding allocated to community transport providers, in order to reduce funding by £410,000 from the current budget of £910,000. • Community investment grants – reduction of £300,000. The Council will reduce funding for some community groups. A full review will take into account criteria such as council priorities, the resilience of groups/ organisations in terms of their reliance on BCC funding and their ability to deliver key and measurable impacts within the communities they serve and the areas of work they deliver.
How can the VCS have its say? The final decisions will have an impact on the activities of the sector and the services we deliver. Voscur has been asked to facilitate a budget consultation meeting especially for Equalities and VCS groups. Following a discussion with our board we have decided to go ahead with this. While we already have concerns that, for such an important budget, the consultation period is half that recommended by the Compact, we think it important that Equalities and VCS groups have the opportunity to be fully engaged and involved in the consultation process. We have asked Mark Hubbard, Bristol’s Compact Liaison Officer, to chair this consultation meeting. Mark will bring a neutral and fair perspective to the process. The event takes place on 11 December, 10am – 3.30pm at the M Shed in the centre of Bristol. If you would like to book a place, visit: goo.gl/WDK98d In addition there are a range of neighbourhood and community consultation events. For details, visit: goo.gl/ukt7lJ We encourage you, your trustees, and your service users to make the most of opportunities to feed in to the budget proposals. The Mayor has said he genuinely wants to hear your views before final decisions are made.
What is Voscur doing? The proposals signal a significant impact on the vulnerable and disadvantage groups the sector works with and supports. Voscur is researching and compiling information, analysing the data, lobbying and working with senior council officers to ensure the sector is influential in decisions made. For more information, please contact Voscur on:
0117 909 9949 or visit: www.voscur.org