Purpose

To recommend to Council the interim General
Fund Budgets for 2024-25, and to receive output from the public
consultation on Council services.

Content

The recommendations of
the Executive in respect of the General Fund Budget for the coming
year were debated and two additional recommendations were proposed
as follows:

“(iv)   in accordance with
paragraph 12.4, a hardship co-ordinator post is proposed. Subject
to final agreement with Citizens Advice Woking the role will be
employed by them.  This post would be
employed by CAW and funded by the Council.  It would support the transition of CAW’s
business model and create a network of support and advice,
utilising the voluntary capacity in other charities and voluntary
organisations across the borough.  This
will be funded to the value of £50,000 for 2024/25 from the
provision made for hardship as a result of the level of Council Tax
increase proposed.

(v)     this Council
agrees to ask residents to voluntarily contribute to the Woking
Community Fund to support the Borough’s voluntary
sector.  The Woking Community Fund is
managed independently by the Community Foundation for Surrey and
works closely with the Council to understand resident
needs.  Residents will be asked to
indicate whether their donation should go to particular priorities
such as hardship advice, transport for the vulnerable or more
general priorities.”
The
recommendations were agreed as follows: 

(i)      the
£8.4m of savings set out in Appendix 3b to the report be
agreed;

(ii)     the Equality
Impact Assessment and public consultation processes on the savings
proposals that are summarised in Appendix 5 to the report, with
detailed reports on each resident facing saving proposal, be noted
as part of the decision-making process;

(iii)     it be noted a
further report to Full Council on 4 March 2024 will receive a final
report from the Director of Finance to finalise the treatment of
the Council’s debt and Council Tax in 2024/25;

(iv)    in accordance with
paragraph 12.4, a hardship co-ordinator post is proposed. Subject
to final agreement with Citizens Advice Woking the role will be
employed by them.  This post would be
employed by CAW and funded by the Council.  It would support the transition of CAW’s
business model and create a network of support and advice,
utilising the voluntary capacity in other charities and voluntary
organisations across the borough.  This
will be funded to the value of £50,000 for 2024/25 from the
provision made for hardship as a result of the level of Council Tax
increase proposed; and

(v)     this Council
agrees to ask residents to voluntarily contribute to the Woking
Community Fund to support the Borough’s voluntary
sector.  The Woking Community Fund is
managed independently by the Community Foundation for Surrey and
works closely with the Council to understand resident
needs.  Residents will be asked to
indicate whether their donation should go to particular priorities
such as hardship advice, transport for the vulnerable or more
general priorities.