Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Moray’s finance boss warns future looks ‘bleak’ for Scottish councils

Moray Council offices.
Moray Council offices.

The future for Scottish local authorities is looking “bleak” unless more money is forthcoming from central government.

High inflation, rising interest rates, geo-political pressures and the Covid-19 pandemic are putting pressure on budgets.

Chief financial officer Lorraine Paisey has highlighted the problems facing Moray Council and others across Scotland.

And as £58 million in savings has been made by the local authority since 2010, she said it was “difficult” to see where further cuts could be made while maintaining statutory duties.

‘Bleak’ future for councils

The local authority will meet on March 1 to set the budget for the financial year ahead.

As well as uncertainty in the economy, a pay deal for teachers has not been agreed for 2022/23.

Also no award has been settled for all staff for the next financial year.

Although details are scarce, establishing a Scottish National Care Service  is expected to have a “very significant” impact on council funding.

The local authority gets about 80% of its revenue, more than £190 million, from the  Scottish Government.

Moray Council budget setting meeting will be held on Wednesday. Image Moray Council

Most of the rest comes from council tax.

Budget proposals put forward by the Conservative administration to tackle the £21.6 million shortfall include a 5% increase on council tax.

They also want to use £14.77 million in Covid reserves to balance the books.

However a further £18.74 million in savings will need to be found in 2023/24.

In her report Ms Paisey highlighted the difficulty faced by the authority having to set a budget within a long-term plan, when there had been a range of financial forecasts from UK and Scottish governments.

£58m savings

She said: “Continued reduction in real term funding seems inevitable given other Scottish Government commitments and generally downbeat forecasts for the Scottish economy.

“The proposed Scottish National Care Service would have a very significant impact on local authority funding.

“And it is as yet unclear what the outcome of this proposal will be and what impact it will have.

“Without significant increases in core funding the financial outlook for Scottish local authorities appears bleak.

“The council has made savings totalling £58 million since 2010/11, and it is increasingly difficult to identify areas where further savings can be
made whilst delivering the statutory duties of a local authority.”

Conversation