Council agrees balanced budget to support vulnerable residents and transform services

It sets out how it will continue to deliver the essential support the most vulnerable residents rely on, transform services and increase opportunities within the borough. 

The budget confirms the council’s commitment to spending £148.04m on vital services for residents - such as people living with dementia, older people reliant on social care and children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) - while meeting the ongoing financial pressures from Covid-19 and the persistent lack of government funding.  

It outlines investment in transforming services to deliver them in new and more efficient ways, delivering more affordable homes and community facilities that meet the needs of all residents, and reducing carbon emissions. As part of this, electric vehicles for the waste collection and recycling service are being introduced and more school streets are being made permanent, limiting vehicle access at drop-off and pick-up times to improve air quality. 

The council is facing an increasingly challenging financial context as it continues to support residents and businesses through the ongoing impacts of the pandemic in the face of drastic cuts in its government funding. 

Kingston’s central government grant has been cut from £66m in 2010 to £0 in 2018. After a couple of years of no support, it will receive just £4,000 this year. 

To help meet these financial pressures and continue to protect the most vulnerable adults and children, a council tax increase of 1.99% has been agreed.

Leader of Kingston Council and Portfolio Holder for Finance, Andreas Kirsch, said: 

“It is always a difficult decision to raise council tax, but to help us meet the financial pressures, we have no choice but to ask residents to pay a bit more for the services we deliver to everyone. Unlike many other London boroughs, we have managed to keep it below inflation, even though inflation hits the council as hard as everyone else.

“Our budget sets out major investment in affordable housing - including the regeneration of the Cambridge Road Estate (CRE) and the small sites programme, which will deliver the first new council houses in the borough in a generation.

“We’re also investing in building a new community leisure facility in Kingston town centre, which is inclusive for everyone and environmentally sustainable. 

“Our Children’s Services are rated Outstanding, and we are in the top 3% nationally for social care provision for adults and children combined. We would like to enable them to continue their excellent work.

“As part of this, the schools building programme will see the expansion of Burlington Junior School to improve facilities and meet future demand for places in the New Malden area, a new special school for children with additional needs in Chessington and a post-16 campus is planned to support Kingston’s young people with SEND to prepare for work and to learn in the local community.

“We’re also providing a new dementia care nursing home in Surbiton, as well as supporting our vulnerable adults and families to find the right places to live.”

You can find out more about this year’s budget and your council tax at www.kingston.gov.uk/council-tax-budget.