Below are the budget proposals for Corporate & Housing services that have been approved.
Finance
General supplies and services
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 23 |
0 |
Commentary
Rebasing of general supplies & services budgets.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Increase to CSS recharge to Pensions
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 23 |
0 |
Commentary
Increased charges.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Reduce Council Tax bad debt by c0.12%
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 80 |
0 |
Commentary
Reduce bad debt by c0.12% (linked to Sheriff Officer contract).
Improved collection rates allows us to make less ongoing provision for uncollectable debts.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Reduced loans fund charges
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 713 |
0 |
Commentary
This is a re-profiling of loan payments.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Reduction in Council Tax bad provision
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 270 |
0 |
Commentary
This is an accounting change predicated by positive collection rates in recent years.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Remove second home council tax discount for owners of second homes
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 15 |
0 |
Commentary
To have policy agreed in advance on the new financial year so that increased charges can be applied from 1 April 2019.
To ensure all taxpayers affected are notified.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Full EPIA complete – low impact.
Revenues & Benefits - staff savings
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 90 |
3 |
Commentary
This saving is derived from previous agreement to rationalise public facing offices and introduces no further changes to services to residents. Linked to the Hub delivery model resulting in more efficient working practices and no direct impact on service provision.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Review of secretarial support
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 32 |
0 |
Commentary
Following a review of secretarial support, there is budget remaining for a post that has been removed from the establishment.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Governance
Income assumption – Children’s Hearings Scotland
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 50 |
0 |
Commentary
This is a reorganisation of budgets that does not involve a reduction in the service provided to Children’s Hearings Scotland.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete - no impact on people.
Realignment of budgets in Members’ support
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 42 |
0 |
Commentary
This saving consists of unused budget for members’ salaries.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Reduction in supplies and services
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 29 |
0 |
Commentary
This saving reflects a reduction across a large number of supplies, services and expenses budgets across the members and broader general and common budget.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete - no impact on people.
Replace sound system in committee suite
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 10 |
0 |
Commentary
Replacing the outdated sound system in the chambers and committee rooms with a system with recording ability will mean that the Council no longer needs to pay for an external contractor to record meetings.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete - no impact on people.
Saving from absent voting process
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 15 |
0 |
Commentary
This reflects a reduction in the budget which primarily supports equipment for AVI checking. The reduced budget will be capable of maintaining the same provision.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Housing Services
General Fund Housing – staffing adjustments
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 60 |
0 |
Commentary
Staff costs will be transferred from General Fund to Housing Revenue Account as the work they do is within HRA properties. There will be no impact to staff or tenants as a result of this change.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Transfer responsibility for the Castings Hostel to the HRA
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 172 |
0 |
Commentary
This is a re-alignment of budget from General Fund to Housing Revenue Account, this transfer will not impact on staff or residents within the Castings.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Transfer the Travelling People’s Site to the HRA
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 28 |
0 |
Commentary
This is a re-alignment of budget from General Fund to Housing Revenue Account and there will be no impact of this change on staff or residents at the Travelling Persons Site.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Human Resources & Business Transformation
Absence Service Review
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 134 |
0 |
Commentary
As part of the review Members agreed back in September the following absence savings target for each Services is as follows:
Children's Services - £93k
Corporate & Housing Services - £24k
Development Services - £17k
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Full EPIA being drafted – Not complete.
Integration of email system into Contact Centre telephony
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 25 |
1 |
Commentary
Saving can be made from existing vacancy and supports the digital transformation agenda.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Purchased annual leave scheme
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 100 |
0 |
Commentary
Purchased annual leave is a voluntary scheme. The proposal uses savings achieved from the scheme for budget savings and has no impact on employees as leave has already been agreed / taken.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Notes
Purchasing annual leave can be difficult to manage within services, however managers approve requests on the basis of ability to deliver services. Approved applications reduces costs and results in a happier workforce and potentially reduces sickness and reduces requests for carers special leave.
Review business support charges
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 350 |
0 |
Commentary
Proposal is in the way that posts are funded and does not impact on the number of posts.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Policy, Technology & Improvement
Contract management – GIS
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 80 |
0 |
Commentary
Re-tender of existing contract. Reduction in cost associated with the requirement for a reduced level of service provided by the third party company.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Contract management – Telecoms
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 20 |
0 |
Commentary
This project is to review the existing spend on telephony across the Council and to make savings by ensuring unused connections are cancelled timeously and that we receive VFM for connections we keep.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Notes
This is a straightforward saving to realise provided the Fire Service is able to develop an alternative means (such as video) of delivering the key messages from Safe Drive Stay Alive to all S4 pupils in class.
External Funding – Oasis
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 10 |
0 |
Commentary
Housing has agreed to fund this service from 1 January 2019 onwards as they make greatest use of it.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA completed – no impact on people.
External Funding – rebase
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 5 |
0 |
Commentary
This is a straightforward rebasing the budget to better reflect historical spend.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA completed – no impact on people.
Fairer Falkirk – Citizen’s Advice Bureau funding
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 50 |
0 |
Commentary
Reduction in funding from the Fairer Falkirk Fund to the three Citizen's Advice Bureau operating across the Falkirk Council area by £50k for 2019/2020. This is a 14% reduction in total funding to the three Citizen's Advice Bureau and is proposed in order to deliver a saving to the Council.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
An EPIA has been completed and rated low impact. The EPIA showed that the change will have a negative impact on people over 45 years old, women, people living with disabilities and people living in or at risk of poverty.
Fairer Falkirk – Employment Training Unit
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 103 |
0 |
Commentary
Cost savings are to be delivered from:
- Employment Training Unit core revenue budget and
- the Council's Fairer Falkirk Fund (administrated by Corporate and Housing Services).
The Savings will be delivered primarily through reducing and re-focussing activities on:
- people furthest from the labour market
- supporting agreed co-investment for European Social Fund (ESF) and Fair Start Scotland
- providing an employability support service to those with multiple barriers to employment including health conditions, disabilities and no or low skills
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
An EPIA has been completed for this change and rating medium due to the potential impact on young people.
Fairer Falkirk – Real Jobs Action Group
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 42 |
0 |
Commentary
To cease funding and replace the service through different funding streams.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Full EPIA being drafted. – to be assessed.
PT&I - staffing restructure
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 13 |
0 |
Commentary
Re-profiling work therefore allowing the recruitment of a post at an appropriate grade.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Review of leased IT lines
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 15 |
0 |
Commentary
This project is to ensure VFM for existing leased lines and to ensure that existing leased lines are terminated when premises are vacated.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Notes
There is a risk that properties will not be vacated so that the leased lines cannot be cancelled. There is a risk that as existing contracts expire, new contracts will be at a higher rate.
Stop publishing Falkirk Council News
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 20 |
0 |
Commentary
This proposal is to stop printing and distributing Falkirk Council News. Currently two editions are produced per annum at a cost of £10k per issue so this would save £20k in 2019/20.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Full EPIA complete – low impact.
Town Twinning
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 6 |
0 |
Commentary
The twinning budget currently supports transport, accommodation and hospitality costs (including civic hospitality) associated with visits to and from Falkirk relating to twinning links and friendship pacts and agreements. The budget also provides an annual grant of £2,000 to the Falkirk District Twinning Association, which in turn is used to support twinning links with Creteil, France.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Full EPIA completed – low impact
Procurement and Housing Property
Increased income from contract rebates and prompt payment of invoices
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 105 |
0 |
Commentary
Change will be based on transforming procurement processes, improved partnership working and modernising our procedures.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Return balance on repairs and renewal fund to general fund and sale of surplus stock from stores
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 45 |
0 |
Commentary
Return balance on repairs and renewal fund to general fund - £30k.
Sale of surplus stock from stores - £15k.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Procurement – staffing – vacancy management
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 33 |
1.5 |
Commentary
Change will be based on transforming procurement processes, improved partnership working and modernising our procedures.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.
Procurement savings from supplier contracts
Estimated savings
2019/20
£000's |
Full-time equivalent |
| 300 |
0 |
Commentary
Change will be based on transforming procurement processes, improved partnership working and modernising our procedures, to deliver savings across the Council’s portfolio of contracts.
Impact on Service (Including Provisional EPIA Assessment)
Initial EPIA complete – no impact on people.