Councillor Hebb presented his report by stating:

·         It had over 660 days since an adult-centric, once-in-a-century, international health crisis took hold of our lives and post COVID had been difficult for a number of Councils. This had not been the case for Thurrock as these Councils bought private sector assets, public ownership of private property the Council had invested in short term, ethical, already-established, municipal markets and as a result had bolstered the reserves. The impacts on local Government finance was well documented, with many reports on how the pressures to sustain pre-pandemic spending levels. Thurrock was able to withstand the immediate economic shock of the COVID storm and vulnerable residents were able to rely on Thurrock.

·         The approach adopted by all parties and all members from 2017 enabled financial capability to withstand the economic shock, the useable reserves had increased by 300%, from £8m that this administration inherited, to £24m.

·         To date the approach enabled the Council to fund an additional £115m worth of public services which would had otherwise been cut rapidly in 2016, and provide circa £28.8m to other public bodies.

·         Despite the pandemic, Thurrock Council had balanced its budget. In the last 22 months, had seen some of Thurrock’s best moments issuing over £43m of support to businesses and the ‘at risk’ and gave special thanks to the Finance team. Councillor Hebb gave thanks to officials in this Council, partners who the Council had worked with in the private and voluntary sector who had helped secure the ability to serve those who needed us the most.

·         The Council had sustained focus on the three key tenets of the Fair Debt Summit by helping young adults identify the signs of household debt and how to avoid that; ensuring the collections process was reviewed with external groups to ensure collections were done right, consistent, with a compassionate approach to those who want to pay, but can’t and mobilising efforts to ensure all elements of the armoury were available for habitual, long-term, debt avoiders who can pay, but chose not to.

·         Last February the Council formally begun the conclusion of the investment approach. Borrowing levels were set by the will of Full Council, choosing to provide officers the borrowing levels up to £2bn in 2017, 2018, and 2019; and in 2021, we chose to reduce them for the first time by nearly half a billion.

·         With other Councils’ collapse of their investment income, moving from surpluses to deficits and a lack of financial resilience prior to the pandemic in other Councils, HM Government were bound to change the rules. Thurrock had not been a victim of our success, but rather tarred with the same brush as our public-owning colleagues.

·         It had been a long time since Governments called for self-sufficiency through income generation and being entrepreneurial.

·         The blunt reality was the COVID aftershock, and the rule changes meant there would not be another £115m over the next four years of income for spending on services above core services.

·         The administration stands ready to lead this borough through this challenge.

·         Tax rises would not be a default to closing the gap, reform was needed. This year’s proposed increase costs the same as a first-class stamp, and was about 2% under inflation, but would fund £2.2m worth of social care for a pressured Children’s Social Care market and our Adult Social Care services.

·         Residents expect politics to be put aside, and we hope to work constructively with all parties in the reforms ahead.

·         Councillor Hebb concluded by noting on pages 118 and 119, 15/9/2021 and 10/12/2021 should both be 2020 and not 2021.

Councillor J Kent questioned whether the Council would reconsider this tax increase and instead recommend freezing council tax for this year. Councillor Hebb stated last year it had been decided to inject £2m into adult social care through the tax increase after the pandemic, the children’s social care department had to be equipped as best as possible to deliver what needed to be delivered and had to progress with the plan.

Councillor J Kent stated the increase of council tax of 2.99% would bring in £2.14m and the recent financial settlement awarded to the Council of £2.5m more than expected and questioned why the Council would not use this windfall to fund a council tax freeze and give local residents some relief. Councillor Hebb stated that £8.5m would be put into council tax scheme and clarified that in pre-pandemic the number of cases were about 9800, then up to 10,400 and now around the 10,000 mark. That £8.5m had been injected last year when the cases were at their highest and although the numbers had come down they had still injected the same amount. So the Council continued to support those residents and for all the right reasons. Councillor Hebb hoped members would support the amendment to motion 4 this evening which was more a practical and ambitious approach.

Councillor Little thanked Councillor Hebb for the report and his attendance at the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, she warmly welcomed the report and was pleased that the report focused on those who wanted to pay but cant and those that can pay but choose not to.

Councillor Byrne thanked Councillor Hebb for the report but had been disappointed on his support for the closure of the adult day care centre. Councillor Byrne questioned whether the council had its own housekeeping in order against spending and overspending and referred to the enhanced redundancy payments and questioned whether the Council could afford this at this time. Councillor Hebb referred to the day care centre and stated the Council had voted on the concept of fewer buildings, better services and the consultation had demonstrated people were happy to move to a centralised estate. Redundancies had to be undertaken in the best possible way in terms of efficiently and sensitivity and for the Council’s housekeeping would continue to do what was needed.

Councillor Muldowney referred to the 2020/21 account having not been presented to the Standard and Audit Committee yet and stated the setting of the budget could be set before the previous accounts had been signed off and questioned when Councillor Hebb expected these to be signed off. Councillor Hebb reiterated the Secretary of State had written to about 350 Councils stating there were pressures in the system and had extended the deadlines with no Councils in Essex having had anything back to committee.

Councillor Duffin thanked Councillor Hebb and officers for including the investment breakdown on the website. This displayed clear and transparency and encouraged councillors and members of the public to check what was on there and see the good investments being made into the borough. Councillor Hebb stated the point of the website was for those who lived in Thurrock who had an interest in the subject and wanted to learn more about it.

Councillor Spillman stated inflation rates was not just a British problem but also a worldwide problem across all major economic across the world as issues came out of the pandemic.  Councillor Spillman stated he would not put children’s or adult services at risk by not telling the truth to residents that the Council could cover those costs without meeting those increases in inflation and was not what Thurrock residents deserved out of its representatives. Councillor Hebb stated also there was a requirement to increase pay and this also had to be funded.

Councillor Collins questioned what would the current reserves levels be if it had been kept at the same level as labour had done. Councillor Hebb stated after two years of COVID, nothing, the Council would have had to cut harder and further even than now. If we had not done what we had done the general fund balance would have been zero. With the Council having the reserve of £24m had allowed us to use £8m of that last year and this year to allow more the Council more headspace.