Published: Thursday 3 March 2022
Kensington and Chelsea Council has voted to approve its budget for 2022/23.
Listen to Cllr Mary Weale's budget speech at Full Council on 2 March 2022 YouTube (starts at 48:50).
The full budget for the Council is £631m.
The Council has protected its £50m Grenfell Recovery Fund and plans to spend £9.1m next year.
In 2022/23, of the £631m, £433m will be spent on the day to day running costs to deliver services to the borough’s residents, businesses and visitors. Spending next year will include £233m of investment into homes, highways, the environment, open spaces, schools, and childcare services.
We will be building 600 new homes across the borough, of which at least 300 will be for social rent, and improving our social housing over the next four years, with an investment of £305m.
The Council is committed to achieving Net Carbon Zero by 2030, which is expected to cost about £144m.
There are further spending pressures of between £20m and £30m over the next three years. Much of this is driven by changing economic conditions, recovery from Covid-19 and by projected increases in the need for services such as housing and social care.
Our proposed efficiency savings next year are £7.5m and include a £900k reduction in temporary accommodation through early intervention and acquiring new accommodation; £500k in helping elderly residents to remain in their own homes and live independently; and £450k saving through a new model for adult social care reablement services.
Our Council Tax this year will rise by 1.99% - an increase of £18.94 a year or £1.58 per month for the average band D household. This is made of up two separate elements. The first is a Council Tax increase of 0.99%. The second element is a 1% increase in what is often referred to as the Adult Social Care precept. The additional income raised from the precept will contribute towards meeting the demand for adult social care services. Kensington and Chelsea’s Council Tax remains one of the lowest in the UK. The Council continues to offer the maximum local Council Tax relief up to 100% for the 13,000 residents on the lowest incomes. The Government is providing a £150 one-off Energy Bills Rebate for most households in Council Tax bands A-D.
Cllr Mary Weale, Lead Member for Finance and Customer Delivery said:
“I am pleased we have managed to set a prudent and balanced budget for 2022/23 whilst keeping our Council Tax rates comparatively low. Our residents and businesses have told us what they value the most about living and working in the borough in our Council Plan and this has helped us to focus our spending on their priorities.
We appreciate that many households are experiencing a lot of hardship due to the rising costs of living. We hope that a below-inflation increase in Council Tax will help to alleviate some of the effects of this.”
The current 2021/22 budget information available on our website will be updated to 2022/23 over the next few days.