Budget Consultation 2022

Overview

We understand that everyone is dealing with a concerning rise in the cost of living. But the impacts of rising inflation and increased demand are also presenting the Council with significant financial challenges.

As we plan our spending for the year ahead, we need to hear your views on our proposals to both reduce spending and generate income. We also want to hear your ideas for how we might make further savings.

Introduction

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council provides a wide range of services to Stockport communities, spending over £280 million each year. We know that these services are valued by our communities.

What we spend out money on:

How we are funded:

The outlook for local government (council) finances

We spend over £280 million each year on our services to support residents and businesses of Stockport.

We are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic and there is now the added financial pressure of the cost-of-living crisis. Our spending is increasing due to rising interest rates, inflation, and increased demand. These same factors are adding pressure to how we deliver our services.

Decisions are needed

The financial landscape is challenging for everyone. We need long-term solutions to deliver high quality services to support our residents and business.

Our medium-term financial plan shows that the money we plan to spend delivering services is more than our income. In 2023/24 we need to find £16.953 million with a further £16.376 million in 2024/25.

We are shaping our budget within an uncertain, unstable, and complex environment. This includes pressures across public services, our supply chains and increasing need within our communities for support.

How we plan to make savings in 2023/24

Every year we deliver a budget that balances our spending against the income we receive. We need to do this whilst still delivering vital services. We recently published our budget proposals for the 2023/24 financial year which identify savings and income generation totalling £7.482m.

Whilst developing these proposals hasn’t been easy, it’s important that we reduce spending and make savings to ensure that we remain financially stable for years to come.

The following pages provide a summary of the proposals identified in each area of the council, which we welcome your views on.

How to give your views

We are asking for your views on the budget proposals identified to inform the difficult decisions we are having to make as we finalise our 2023/24 budget.  

You can take part online by completing this survey.

On paper by requesting a copy of the consultation.

Write to us at:

Consultation and Engagement

Fred Perry House

Edward Street

Stockport

SK1 3UR

Alternative formats

• Printed Version: You can request alternative formats such as a hard copy, large print
• E-Mail: You can request an email version of the consultation
• Language Support: For those whose first language is not English. If you are unable to get support from a friend or family we can offer language support.

Email consultation@stockport.gov.uk

Call/message 07890321666 between 9am and 5pm.

The consultation is available in libraries across the borough of Stockport. 

This consultation runs from 28 November 2022 to 27 December 2022.

Why your views matter

We need to make some difficult decisions about how we fund the services we provide as we set the budget for 2023-24. There are statutory services we must provide and ones we can choose to provide. We must make sure we direct money to where it is most needed.

What happens next

Consultation responses will help inform decisions ahead of the publication of the detailed draft budget proposals in early January 2023 and will then be considered by Councillors at Committee meetings and the Cabinet meeting taking place in January 2023 before the budget proposals are finalised and considered for approval by the meeting of the Full Council in February 2023.

As indicated, we may further consult or engage in the new year as we look to further explore the impacts and shape some of the proposals shown above.