City Hall Greens Final Budget Amendment 2023-24

PART A: INTRODUCTION & COMMENTARY[1]

 

An inclusive economic recovery

Our goal with this amendment is to fill gaps in support and infrastructure for those Londoners who remain overlooked in plans so far, to help build a resilient and inclusive recovery from the pandemic.

In previous years, the City Hall Greens budget proposals have later been adopted by the Mayor in new programmes following each budget, or even voted for by the Assembly. These include the Resident Empowerment Reserve Fund, providing youth services through the Young Londoners Fund, updating the Mayor’s carbon reduction targets from 2050 to 2030, extending the Solar Together programme, ending the ‘fines freeze’ for illegally parking in a bus lane or a red route, and using money unallocated in the 2016-23 Affordable Homes Programme to deliver the Right to Buy-back fund.[2]^{,[3],[4],[5],[6]}

We are focusing on creating an inclusive economic recovery, aiming to offer support and programmes that will reduce inequalities and improve long-term outcomes. All of our five proposals are low-cost interventions using existing reserves to direct money towards cutting living costs for nurses and lower paid, reducing homelessness, community renewal, drug harm reduction, and resident empowerment, all of which offer significant long-term social and economic benefits.

Our amendment covers:

1. Support for nurses and lower-paid Londoners with travel costs: free travel for nurses and lower-paid staff and contractors within the GLA Group for three years.
2. A targeted safety net against homelessness: support to prevent and reduce homelessness for specific groups.
3. New funds to bring dead spaces back to life: providing funds for communities to open up and revitalise unused council spaces in their neighbourhoods.
4. A new drug diversion pilot scheme: a 12-month, London-wide drugs diversion pilot to minimise the harms caused by drug use.
5. A Resident Empowerment Reserve Fund: funding grants for representative residents and renters’ rights groups.

Our proposals will be funded using a total of £54 million from a combination of Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) Reserve and Business Rates Reserve (BRR) as set out in the individual proposals that follow.
 

1. Support for nurses and lower-paid Londoners with travel costs

With this part of our amendment, we want to help two groups of Londoners with living costs by providing them with free travel on all Transport for London (TfL) services: trainee nurses and lower-paid staff in the GLA.

The 2020 Royal College of Nursing (RCN) report, Living in the Red: the cost of living crisis for London’s nursing workforce, recommended providing free travel for nursing staff, saying that the: “Cost of transport was second only to the cost of accommodation as the most challenging aspect of living in London with ‘discounted travel tied to employment’ (73 per cent) the most popular policy solution to help nursing staff stay in the capital.”[7]

In September 2022, the Mayor asked TfL to extend free travel benefits to lower-paid contract workers, including tube cleaners, security and catering staff, which he described as: “providing targeted support directly to those on lower incomes.”[8] Contract staff previously missed out on their benefits as they are employed by suppliers rather than TfL directly.

We believe it is only fair that new support for lower-paid workers should include contractors, staff, and apprentices within the GLA Group and our amendment extends this support to those working for the London Fire Brigade, the Mayor and London Assembly, LLDC and OPDC (police officers, MOPAC staff and TfL staff already receive this benefit).

We therefore propose introducing for three financial years a new free travel benefit for:

• London’s 12,461 student nurses (19 per cent of London’s 64,500 nurses)
• 2,148 lower-paid staff employed by the GLA and its suppliers, covering those on the London Living Wage (including apprentices) and Band 1 salaries.

Based on the amount of revenue foregone, without any assumptions about future fare rate increases, the total cost of these two measures are:

• student nurses: £10.35 million per year (£31.05 million overall)
• lowest-paid GLA staff and contractors: £1.9 million per year (£5.7 million overall).

This part of our amendment is funded using a total of £36.75 million over three years from the Business Rates Reserve (BRR) of £135.7 million.

 

2. A targeted safety net against homelessness

Homelessness is growing in London. Shelter found that in 2022, one in 58 people in London is homeless, the highest rate of any region in England.[9] Among people facing homelessness for the first time, different groups have individual problems and specific needs that require culturally and practically appropriate support.

The Mayor acknowledged the need in young people by establishing the first pan-London homeless accommodation hub, specifically for young people who are sleeping rough or at immediate risk of homelessness, in London in March 2021.[10] New Horizon Youth Centre, who run the youth homelessness hub with Depaul, tell us it already needs another such facility to cope with demand.

For women escaping domestic violence, The Connection at St Martin’s and Solace Women’s Aid are seeking to deliver similarly specialist accommodation places with intensive wraparound support.

Meanwhile, the Albert Kennedy Trust and the Outside Project both stress the need for safe and appropriate accommodation for LGBTIQA+ people. The London LGBTIQA+ Community Housing Coalition manifesto asked the Mayor to: “work with local councils to build a London-wide support pathway of accommodation and support services for LGBTIQA+ people.”[11]

The Roma Organisation for Training and Advocacy (ROTA) is also working on plans to open an accommodation centre for rough sleepers from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community.

Armed forces veterans make up a large proportion of the current street homelessness population, but a number of organisations aiding veterans have told us of their specialised needs, which are not being met by current provision.

This part of our amendment utilises funds that would otherwise sit unused in the Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) reserve to provide £10 million in capital and revenue to specialist organisations providing targeted accommodation and support aimed at preventing homelessness, including:

• young people
• women escaping domestic violence
• LGBTIQA+ people
• Gypsies, Roma and Travellers
• armed force veterans.

 

This part of our amendment is funded using £10 million from the Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) Reserve of £33.3 million, taking the forecast balance at the end of 2023-24 to £22.3 million. The MDC Reserve was topped up by the Mayor with £13.4 million in his Draft Consolidated Budget, bringing the balance up to £33.3 million. However, only £9.4 million is currently allocated to be released to LLDC and OPDC by the end of 2025-26, leaving £23.9 million.

 

3. New funds to bring dead spaces back to life

Londoners have told us they are acutely aware that public spaces and buildings in their local area are sitting empty. They call them ‘dead spaces’ – a reflection of the strong feelings people experience when they see this kind of wasted opportunity on their doorsteps. Yet, across London, hundreds of community groups are crying out for easier ways to take over empty buildings.

Research published in June 2022 by Assembly member Sian Berry, London’s Dead Spaces: Bringing them back to life, found that councils in 25 London boroughs own 442 sites that are currently out of their normal use.[12] Most of these are simply left empty and unused, leaving gaps in their communities for an average of four years at a time. The total across London would be 781 if this average was also reflected in the boroughs that did not provide data to our team.

We propose that the Mayor builds on the findings and successes from his investment in council- and community-led projects funded through the High Streets for All Challenge, and provide £150,000 per project to fund 33 schemes in each London borough and the City of London. This is intended to make up for the lack of new funding proposed from 2023-24 by the Mayor for the High Streets For All Challenge.

This part of our amendment is funded using £4.95 million from Business Rates Reserve (BRR) of £135.7 million.

 

4. A new drug diversion pilot scheme

London needs to re-think the way it deals with the harms caused by drug use. The latest statistics show that 9,055 people were sentenced for drug offences in London in the year ending June 2022, potentially ruining the life chances of thousands of Londoners.[13]

Criminalising people who take drugs in this way is a waste of valuable police time that could be better spent keeping our people and communities safe, while doing little to reduce the harm caused by drugs.

A drug diversion pilot would ensure that people who are found with small quantities of drugs are not dealt with via the criminal justice system, but instead are redirected towards education on the harms caused by drugs and signposted to further support with a focus on harm reduction.

Campaigning groups Centre for Justice Innovation and Transform recommend that, for maximum impact, there should be no requirement for the admission of guilt and the criminal record consequences that follow, especially for people from groups who tend to have less trust in the justice system.[14]^,[15]

In 2018, Thames Valley Police piloted a drug diversion scheme and subsequently rolled it out across its area in 2020, showing this kind of pilot can and does work to reduce harm and save police time.[16] Other diversion schemes have been successfully run by police services across England and Wales, including Avon and Somerset, Bedfordshire, Cleveland, Devon & Cornwall, Durham, Dyfed-Powys, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Leicestershire, North Wales, and the West Midlands.[17]

Our budget amendment allocates £1.8 million to running a 12-month, London-wide drug diversion pilot run by the Metropolitan Police Service.

This part of our amendment is funded using £1.8 million from the Business Rates Reserve (BRR) of £135.7 million.

 

5. A Resident Empowerment Reserve Fund

In the budget process for 2022-23, our group brought this amendment as a standalone proposal, and it was approved with cross-party support at the London Assembly Plenary meeting on 26 January 2022.[18]

The Mayor did not accept the Assembly’s proposed changes to the Draft Consolidated Budget. His response to our budget amendment stated that he: “does not recognise the amendment’s characterisation of estate residents being frequently left unaware or having little confidence in processes of communication.”[19]

In July 2022, Assembly member Sian Berry published a report, Estate ballots: are they working well?. This exposed how resident groups facing well-funded campaigns from landlords lack equal access to resources, and cannot commission independent advice and advocacy support, or develop their own ideas.[20]

The London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee has also consistently highlighted the problems faced by Londoners engaging with the planning system.[21]

This amendment therefore proposes again that a Resident Empowerment Reserve Fund is created, initially with £0.5 million taken from the Business Rates Reserve. Further funds could be added to this in future, for example by using developer contributions and the resources landlords are already asked to provide for resident support in the ballot process.

Representative resident groups affected by major developments would be able to bid for grants from this fund to commission the advice and advocacy support they need. As a result, they would be genuinely empowered to influence changes that affect their homes and their lives in our city.

This part of our amendment is funded using £0.5 million from Business Rates Reserve (BRR) of £135.7 million.

 

Overall impact of our amendment on the budget:

The figures from our proposed measures above are combined in a table below to show the overall balance and impact on the budget of this part of the amendment. Part B reflects the amendments required to the statutory calculations for the 2023-24 budget year but it is assumed the ongoing cost of measure 1 would be met for at least three years through further drawdowns from the business rates reserve in 2024-25 and 2025-26.

 

 

PART B: Proposal to approve, with amendments, the Final Draft Consolidated Budget for the 2023-24 financial year for the Greater London Authority and the Functional Bodies

RECOMMENDATIONS:

FORMAL BUDGET AMENDMENT

1. The Mayor’s final draft consolidated budget (together with the component budgets comprised within it) for 2023-24 be amended by the sum(s) shown in column number 3 of the table for each constituent body, as set out and in accordance with the attached Schedule.

(These sums are the calculations under sections 85(4) to (8) of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (as amended) (‘The GLA Act’) which give rise to each of the amounts mentioned in recommendations 2 and 3 below.)

2. The calculations referred to in recommendation 1 above, give rise to a component council tax requirement for 2023-24 for each constituent body as follows:

 

3.         The component council tax requirements shown in recommendation 2 above, give rise to a consolidated council tax requirement for the Authority for 2023-24 (shown at Line 99 in the attached Schedule) of £1,353,083,364.46

 

BUDGET RELATED MOTIONS

3. [WHERE APPLICABLE, INSERT ANY OTHER BUDGET RELATED MOTIONS REQUIRED]

 

 

___________________________________________________________________________

NOTES:

      Assembly’s powers of budget amendment

1. The Mayor is required to set a consolidated and component council tax requirement and it is this amount which the Assembly has the power to amend. The council tax requirement equates to the amount which will be allocated to the Mayor, the Assembly and for each functional body from the Mayor’s council tax precept. These individual functional body requirements are consolidated to form the consolidated council tax requirement for the GLA Group.
    
2. A two-thirds majority of votes cast by Assembly Members is required to approve any amendment to recommendations (1) to (3) above concerning the Final Draft Consolidated Budget; abstentions are not counted.
    
3. If a two-thirds majority to approve an amendment is not achieved then the Mayor’s Final Draft Consolidated Budget is therefore approved without amendment.
    
4. Lines 4 (GLA Mayor), 18 (Assembly), 32 (MOPAC), 46 (LFC), 60 (TfL), 74 (LLDC) and 88 (OPDC) within the expenditure estimates are used to allocate any revenue account deficit being met from reserves relating to a prior financial year. This is nominally allocated to the GLA in line with accounting practice as the precepting authority but in principle the deficit can be attributed to any component budget. However, due to the impact of the Local Authorities (Collection Fund: Surplus and Deficit) (Coronavirus) (England) Regulations 2020, this line will this year, where applicable, include contributions towards meeting the GLA’s overall share of the 2020-21 collection fund deficit across London for council tax and business rates, spread over three years, as well as any 2022-23 deficit, should one arise following the receipt of the relevant billing authority returns at the end of January 2023.

 

5. The income estimates calculated under section 85 5(a) of the GLA Act are presented in five parts within the statutory calculations:

 

      - Income not in respect of government grants, business rates retention or the council tax precept. This includes fare revenues; congestion charging income; the Crossrail Business rate supplement; and all other income not received from central government, through the council tax precept or for retained business rates. (line 6 for the Mayor, line 20 for the Assembly, line 34 for MOPAC, line 48 for LFC, line 62 for TfL, line 76 for the LLDC and line 90 for the OPDC);

 

      - Income in respect of specific and special government grants. This includes those grants which are not regarded as general grants and are nominally paid for specific purposes and must generally be applied and allocated to the relevant functional body. This includes Home Office specific grants for MOPAC including counter-terrorism funding and other grants paid for specific purposes to the GLA and the other functional bodies (line 7 for the Mayor, line 21 for the Assembly, line 35 for MOPAC, line 49 for LFC, line 63 for TfL, line 77 for the LLDC and line 91 for the OPDC);

 

- Income in respect of general government grants. This includes for MOPAC only its general Home Office grant comprising the core Home Office police, National and International Capital Cities, council tax legacy support and principal police formula component funding streams and for TfL any extraordinary grant paid by the Department for Transport for its purposes under section 101 of the GLA Act 1999 (line 8 for the Mayor, line 22 for the Assembly, line 36 for MOPAC, line 50 for LFC, line 64 for TfL, line 78 for the LLDC and line 92 for OPDC). The Home Office policing and principal police formula grant reported within line 36 can only be applied to the MOPAC component budget and similarly any forecast GLA transport grant reported within line 64 can only be applied to the TfL component budget;

 

- Income in respect of retained business rates including estimated related section 31 grant income payable by the Secretary of State under the Local Government Act 2003 as compensation for business rates reliefs and business rates losses including those estimated to apply to the GLA under the Local tax income scheme guarantee for 2020-21 adjusted for the estimated impact of the Local Authorities (Collection Fund: Surplus and Deficit) (Coronavirus) (England) Regulations 2020 (line 9 for the Mayor, line 23 for the Assembly, line 37 for MOPAC, line 51 for LFC, line 65 for TfL, line 79 for the LLDC and line 93 for OPDC); and

 

- The GLA’s estimated share of any aggregate forecast net collection fund surplus at 31 March 2023 reported by the 33 London billing authorities in respect of council tax and business rates allocated as applicable to each functional body (line 10 for the Mayor, line 24 for the Assembly, line 38 for MOPAC, line 52 for LFC, line 66 for TfL, line 80 for the LLDC and line 94 for OPDC).

     

6. A subtotal for income items before the use of reserves (line 11 for the Mayor, line 25 for the Assembly, line 39 for MOPAC, line 53 for LFC, line 67 for TfL, line 81 for the LLDC and line 95 for the OPDC) is included in the proforma and must also be amended to reflect the sum of any amendments made to the income items listed in paragraph d above.

 

7. The proposed use of reserves to meet expenditure is recorded in lines 12 (Mayor), 26 (Assembly), 40 (MOPAC), 54 (LFC), 68 (TfL), 82 (LLDC) and 96 (OPDC). The overall income total including the use of reserves and the sum of the income items from paragraph e is recorded in lines 13 (Mayor), 27 (Assembly), 41 (MOPAC), 55 (LFC), 69 (TfL), 83 (LLDC) and 97 (OPDC) – and again this must also be amended to reflect the sum of any amendments made to the income items described in paragraphs d and e above.

 

      Council tax base and GLA share of billing authority collection fund surpluses or deficits

8. For the purposes of the Final Draft Budget calculations the council tax requirements are calculated using an estimated taxbase of 3,113,799.09 for the Metropolitan Police District area (the 32 London boroughs) and 3,122,662.04 for the entire GLA area including the City of London. This Mayor’s Final Draft Consolidated Budget also reflects the GLA’s forecast share of retained business rates income for 2023-24 alongside the forecast collection fund surpluses or deficits in respect of retained business rates and council tax for 2022-23 which are recoverable in 2023-24 through an adjustment to the instalments payable to the GLA by billing authorities having regard to the Local Authorities (Collection Fund: Surplus and Deficit) (Coronavirus) (England) Regulations 2020.

 

      Compliance with council tax “excessiveness principles” expected to be set by the Secretary of State as set out in Part 3 of the Mayor’s Final Draft Consolidated Budget

1. A Band D council tax for non-police services in the City of London (the unadjusted basic amount of council tax applying in the City) which is more than £23.55 greater than its unadjusted relevant basic amount of council tax for 2022-23 and/or the total council tax (the adjusted basic amount applying in the Metropolitan Police District i.e. the 32 London boroughs) which is more than £38.55, greater than its adjusted relevant basic amount of council tax for 2022-23 would be regarded as “excessive” under the council tax increases excessiveness principles, published by the Secretary of State on 6 February 2023, as part of the final local government finance settlement 2023-24, which were approved by the House of Commons on 8 February 2023. This is because a higher Band D amount in either case will result in an increase at or above the thresholds set by the Secretary of State in the published principles, in which case the increase is regarded as “excessive,” thereby triggering (in either or both cases as applicable) the requirement to hold a council tax referendum of local government electors across the whole of Greater London (excluding electors in the City of London if only the adjusted precept is excessive).

 

10. Assembly Groups should therefore seek advice should they wish to propose amendments which have the effect of increasing the precept compared to the figures proposed by the Mayor of £142.01 (the unadjusted amount of council tax in the City) and £434.14 (the adjusted amount in the 32 boroughs), as it is possible that the amendment could breach the expected excessiveness principles depending on the apportionment of any additional council tax precept income raised between police and non-police services.

 

11. If an amendment resulting in an “excessive” council tax is passed at the 23 February meeting at which the Final Draft Budget is to be considered, the Assembly will also be required to approve an alternative default or ‘substitute’ budget that is compliant with the final excessiveness principles and which would become the budget should any resulting referendum not be passed – in effect one consistent with an unadjusted council tax of £142.01 (in the area of the Common Council of the City of London) and/or an adjusted council tax of £434.14 (in the 32 London Boroughs) depending on which (or both) is/are “excessive”. Part 3 of the Mayor’s final draft budget provides advice to Assembly members on council tax referendum issues.

 

SCHEDULE

Part 1: Greater London Authority: Mayor of London (“Mayor”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for the Mayor for 2023-24 (line 14 col 3) is: £67,355,820.21
Part 2: Greater London Authority: London Assembly (“Assembly”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for the Assembly for 2023-24 (line 28 col 3) is: £2,716,715.97
Part 3: Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (“MOPAC”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for the MOPAC for 2023-24 (line 42 col 3) is: £909,634,128.16

Part 4: London Fire Commissioner (“LFC”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for LFC for 2023-24 (line 56 col 3) is: £195,103,924.26

 

Part 5: Transport for London (“TfL”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

*        This line is a net nil, but comprises the estimated loss of income (£12,251,534) as a result of the ‘support for low-paid Londoners with travel costs’ proposal, compensated from funding from the GLA’s Transport Reserve (-£12,251,534) 
 

The final draft component council tax requirement for TfL for 2023-24 (line 70 col 3) is: £178,272,775.86
Part 6: London Legacy Development Corporation (“LLDC”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for LLDC for 2023-24 (line 84 col 3) is: £0.00

 

Part 7: Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (“OPDC”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for OPDC for 2023-24 (line 98 col 3) is: £0.00

 

Part 8: The Greater London Authority (“GLA") final draft consolidated council tax requirement calculations

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft consolidated council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft consolidated council tax requirement for 2023-24 (line 99 col 3) is: £1,353,083,364.46

[1]This report is made up of two Parts, A and B. The text in Part A does not form part of the formal budget amendments, which are set out in Part B.

PART A: INTRODUCTION & COMMENTARY[1]

Toilets for Londoners on public transport

In January 2022, the London Assembly voted for a budget-related motion calling on the Mayor to improve London’s public realm by funding new free public toilets for Londoners and visitors.[2]

Three quarters of the public say there are not enough public toilets in the UK, and Age UK recently found that four fifths of older Londoners believe public toilet provision in their borough is poor.[3]

The evidence shows public toilets provide a wealth of benefits to local high streets, health and wellbeing, accessibility and inclusion.[4] Bus and train stations are particularly important sites for quality public toilet provision.

In this amendment, we propose providing £20 million for new, free toilets at Transport for London (TfL) stations, and ensuring accessible toilets are available in new toilet blocks. This is a one-off capital investment in infrastructure, making good use of unallocated Mayoral reserves. Future maintenance costs would be offset by increased accessibility of the network, leading to additional fares revenue for TfL.[5]

The money committed in this amendment is estimated to be able to add 32 new automatic toilets, 32 new toilet blocks with accessible toilets, and six Changing Places toilets alongside new or existing accessible toilet blocks.

This funding would include £100,000 to run an open competition to explore how new toilet kiosk provision at the ends of outer London bus routes could best fit into the public realm, while improving conditions for bus drivers. It would also provide investment of £100,000 to support the improvement of existing digital resources carrying information on publicly accessible toilets, such as the Great British Toilets Map, Toilets4London and TfL Go.

This part of our amendment is funded using £20 million from the Business Rates Reserve (BRR) of £135.7 million.

 

PART B: Proposal to approve, with amendments, the Final Draft Consolidated Budget for the 2023-24 financial year for the Greater London Authority and the Functional Bodies

RECOMMENDATIONS:

FORMAL BUDGET AMENDMENT

1. The Mayor’s final draft consolidated budget (together with the component budgets comprised within it) for 2023-24 be amended by the sum(s) shown in column number 3 of the table for each constituent body, as set out and in accordance with the attached Schedule.

(These sums are the calculations under sections 85(4) to (8) of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (as amended) (‘The GLA Act’) which give rise to each of the amounts mentioned in recommendations 2 and 3 below.)

2. The calculations referred to in recommendation 1 above, give rise to a component council tax requirement for 2023-24 for each constituent body as follows:

 

3.         The component council tax requirements shown in recommendation 2 above, give rise to a consolidated council tax requirement for the Authority for 2023-24 (shown at Line 99 in the attached Schedule) of £1,353,083,364.46

 

BUDGET RELATED MOTIONS

3. [WHERE APPLICABLE, INSERT ANY OTHER BUDGET RELATED MOTIONS REQUIRED]

 

___________________________________________________________________________

NOTES:

      Assembly’s powers of budget amendment

1. The Mayor is required to set a consolidated and component council tax requirement and it is this amount which the Assembly has the power to amend. The council tax requirement equates to the amount which will be allocated to the Mayor, the Assembly and for each functional body from the Mayor’s council tax precept. These individual functional body requirements are consolidated to form the consolidated council tax requirement for the GLA Group.
    
2. A two-thirds majority of votes cast by Assembly Members is required to approve any amendment to recommendations (1) to (3) above concerning the Final Draft Consolidated Budget; abstentions are not counted.
    
3. If a two-thirds majority to approve an amendment is not achieved then the Mayor’s Final Draft Consolidated Budget is therefore approved without amendment.
    
4. Lines 4 (GLA Mayor), 18 (Assembly), 32 (MOPAC), 46 (LFC), 60 (TfL), 74 (LLDC) and 88 (OPDC) within the expenditure estimates are used to allocate any revenue account deficit being met from reserves relating to a prior financial year. This is nominally allocated to the GLA in line with accounting practice as the precepting authority but in principle the deficit can be attributed to any component budget. However, due to the impact of the Local Authorities (Collection Fund: Surplus and Deficit) (Coronavirus) (England) Regulations 2020, this line will this year, where applicable, include contributions towards meeting the GLA’s overall share of the 2020-21 collection fund deficit across London for council tax and business rates, spread over three years, as well as any 2022-23 deficit, should one arise following the receipt of the relevant billing authority returns at the end of January 2023.

 

5. The income estimates calculated under section 85 5(a) of the GLA Act are presented in five parts within the statutory calculations:

 

      - Income not in respect of government grants, business rates retention or the council tax precept. This includes fare revenues; congestion charging income; the Crossrail Business rate supplement; and all other income not received from central government, through the council tax precept or for retained business rates. (line 6 for the Mayor, line 20 for the Assembly, line 34 for MOPAC, line 48 for LFC, line 62 for TfL, line 76 for the LLDC and line 90 for the OPDC);

 

      - Income in respect of specific and special government grants. This includes those grants which are not regarded as general grants and are nominally paid for specific purposes and must generally be applied and allocated to the relevant functional body. This includes Home Office specific grants for MOPAC including counter-terrorism funding and other grants paid for specific purposes to the GLA and the other functional bodies (line 7 for the Mayor, line 21 for the Assembly, line 35 for MOPAC, line 49 for LFC, line 63 for TfL, line 77 for the LLDC and line 91 for the OPDC);

 

- Income in respect of general government grants. This includes for MOPAC only its general Home Office grant comprising the core Home Office police, National and International Capital Cities, council tax legacy support and principal police formula component funding streams and for TfL any extraordinary grant paid by the Department for Transport for its purposes under section 101 of the GLA Act 1999 (line 8 for the Mayor, line 22 for the Assembly, line 36 for MOPAC, line 50 for LFC, line 64 for TfL, line 78 for the LLDC and line 92 for OPDC). The Home Office policing and principal police formula grant reported within line 36 can only be applied to the MOPAC component budget and similarly any forecast GLA transport grant reported within line 64 can only be applied to the TfL component budget;

 

- Income in respect of retained business rates including estimated related section 31 grant income payable by the Secretary of State under the Local Government Act 2003 as compensation for business rates reliefs and business rates losses including those estimated to apply to the GLA under the Local tax income scheme guarantee for 2020-21 adjusted for the estimated impact of the Local Authorities (Collection Fund: Surplus and Deficit) (Coronavirus) (England) Regulations 2020 (line 9 for the Mayor, line 23 for the Assembly, line 37 for MOPAC, line 51 for LFC, line 65 for TfL, line 79 for the LLDC and line 93 for OPDC); and

 

- The GLA’s estimated share of any aggregate forecast net collection fund surplus at 31 March 2023 reported by the 33 London billing authorities in respect of council tax and business rates allocated as applicable to each functional body (line 10 for the Mayor, line 24 for the Assembly, line 38 for MOPAC, line 52 for LFC, line 66 for TfL, line 80 for the LLDC and line 94 for OPDC).

     

6. A subtotal for income items before the use of reserves (line 11 for the Mayor, line 25 for the Assembly, line 39 for MOPAC, line 53 for LFC, line 67 for TfL, line 81 for the LLDC and line 95 for the OPDC) is included in the proforma and must also be amended to reflect the sum of any amendments made to the income items listed in paragraph d above.

 

7. The proposed use of reserves to meet expenditure is recorded in lines 12 (Mayor), 26 (Assembly), 40 (MOPAC), 54 (LFC), 68 (TfL), 82 (LLDC) and 96 (OPDC). The overall income total including the use of reserves and the sum of the income items from paragraph e is recorded in lines 13 (Mayor), 27 (Assembly), 41 (MOPAC), 55 (LFC), 69 (TfL), 83 (LLDC) and 97 (OPDC) – and again this must also be amended to reflect the sum of any amendments made to the income items described in paragraphs d and e above.

 

      Council tax base and GLA share of billing authority collection fund surpluses or deficits

8. For the purposes of the Final Draft Budget calculations the council tax requirements are calculated using an estimated taxbase of 3,113,799.09 for the Metropolitan Police District area (the 32 London boroughs) and 3,122,662.04 for the entire GLA area including the City of London. This Mayor’s Final Draft Consolidated Budget also reflects the GLA’s forecast share of retained business rates income for 2023-24 alongside the forecast collection fund surpluses or deficits in respect of retained business rates and council tax for 2022-23 which are recoverable in 2023-24 through an adjustment to the instalments payable to the GLA by billing authorities having regard to the Local Authorities (Collection Fund: Surplus and Deficit) (Coronavirus) (England) Regulations 2020.

 

      Compliance with council tax “excessiveness principles” expected to be set by the Secretary of State as set out in Part 3 of the Mayor’s Final Draft Consolidated Budget

1. A Band D council tax for non-police services in the City of London (the unadjusted basic amount of council tax applying in the City) which is more than £23.55 greater than its unadjusted relevant basic amount of council tax for 2022-23 and/or the total council tax (the adjusted basic amount applying in the Metropolitan Police District i.e. the 32 London boroughs) which is more than £38.55, greater than its adjusted relevant basic amount of council tax for 2022-23 would be regarded as “excessive” under the council tax increases excessiveness principles, published by the Secretary of State on 6 February 2023, as part of the final local government finance settlement 2023-24, which were approved by the House of Commons on 8 February 2023. This is because a higher Band D amount in either case will result in an increase at or above the thresholds set by the Secretary of State in the published principles, in which case the increase is regarded as “excessive,” thereby triggering (in either or both cases as applicable) the requirement to hold a council tax referendum of local government electors across the whole of Greater London (excluding electors in the City of London if only the adjusted precept is excessive).

10. Assembly Groups should therefore seek advice should they wish to propose amendments which have the effect of increasing the precept compared to the figures proposed by the Mayor of £142.01 (the unadjusted amount of council tax in the City) and £434.14 (the adjusted amount in the 32 boroughs), as it is possible that the amendment could breach the expected excessiveness principles depending on the apportionment of any additional council tax precept income raised between police and non-police services.

11. If an amendment resulting in an “excessive” council tax is passed at the 23 February meeting at which the Final Draft Budget is to be considered, the Assembly will also be required to approve an alternative default or ‘substitute’ budget that is compliant with the final excessiveness principles and which would become the budget should any resulting referendum not be passed – in effect one consistent with an unadjusted council tax of £142.01 (in the area of the Common Council of the City of London) and/or an adjusted council tax of £434.14 (in the 32 London Boroughs) depending on which (or both) is/are “excessive”. Part 3 of the Mayor’s final draft budget provides advice to Assembly members on council tax referendum issues.

 

SCHEDULE

Part 1: Greater London Authority: Mayor of London (“Mayor”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for the Mayor for 2023-24 (line 14 col 3) is: £67,355,820.21
Part 2: Greater London Authority: London Assembly (“Assembly”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for the Assembly for 2023-24 (line 28 col 3) is: £ 2,716,715.97
Part 3: Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (“MOPAC”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for the MOPAC for 2023-24 (line 42 col 3) is: £909,634,128.16

 

Part 4: London Fire Commissioner (“LFC”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for LFC for 2023-24 (line 56 col 3) is: £195,103,924.26

 

Part 5: Transport for London (“TfL”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for TfL for 2023-24 (line 70 col 3) is: £178,272,775.86
Part 6: London Legacy Development Corporation (“LLDC”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for LLDC for 2023-24 (line 84 col 3) is: £0.00

 

Part 7: Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (“OPDC”) final draft component budget

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft component council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft component council tax requirement for OPDC for 2023-24 (line 98 col 3) is: £0.00

 

Part 8: The Greater London Authority (“GLA") final draft consolidated council tax requirement calculations

NOTE: Amendments to the final draft consolidated council tax will take effect as follows. Where a figure is shown in column 3, the figure in column 2 is amended to the figure in column 3. If no figure is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 shall be taken to apply un-amended. If “nil” or “£0” is shown in column 3, then the figure in column 2 is amended to nil.

 

 

The final draft consolidated council tax requirement for 2023-24 (line 99 col 3) is: £1,353,083,364.46