Key information
Executive summary
The Mayor is also asked to approve the explanatory supporting text in relation to the GLA budget and precept and associated calculations which will be circulated to the 33 council tax billing authorities in London so that they can make this available to council taxpayers. Two versions of the explanatory text have been prepared – a long version representing the GLA’s preferred text and a short version which billing authorities may, at their discretion, use instead in order to reduce the cost of their council tax billing process. The two alternative versions are set out in Appendix B.
Decision
(a) To agree the calculations for 2019-20 for:
a. the amount of the consolidated council tax requirement for the Greater London Authority of £960,569,108 and the proposed Band D equivalent council tax precepts (£320.51 in the 32 London boroughs and £78.38 in the Common Council of the City of London);
b. the tax for different valuation bands; and
c. the amount of council tax collectable by each billing Authority and payable to the GLA consistent with the consolidated council tax requirement approved without amendment by the London Assembly on 25 February 2019.
(b) To agree to the issue of the GLA precept data for 2019-20 to the 33 council tax billing authorities (the 32 London boroughs and the Common Council of the City of London).
(c) To formally approve both the alternative versions of the 2019-20 council tax explanatory text in respect of the GLA budget and precept to be issued to the 33 council tax billing authorities for communication to the occupiers of the 3.6 million domestic properties in London.
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
The Mayor's draft consolidated budget was considered by the London Assembly at its meeting on 24 January 2019, and the Assembly approved the Draft Consolidated Budget without amendment. On 15 February the Mayor published his final draft budget. The Mayor's final draft budget for 2019-20, with its supporting material, was considered at the meeting of the London Assembly held on 25 February 2019. The Assembly made no amendment to the final draft budget, and it was therefore deemed to be approved unamended, and this budget is therefore the Authority's consolidated budget for the next financial year. Approval of the final draft budget allows the calculation of the GLA council tax and precepts which must be notified to the 33 council tax billing authorities in London (the 32 London boroughs and the City of London) by 28 February 2019. This decision form asks the Mayor to approve the Band D council tax and precepts on the 33 London billing authorities for 2019-20 as set out in Appendix A.
The Mayor is also asked to approve the two alternative versions of the explanatory supporting information that the GLA will submit to the 33 billing authorities for the information of council taxpayers as set out in Appendix B.
The final draft budget set out the component council tax requirements for the GLA and each functional body and the consolidated council tax requirement for the GLA Group. The purpose of this decision form is to request that the Mayor confirms the approved council tax requirements which are set out below. These figures are rounded to the nearest pound.
The first table in Appendix A sets out the statutory calculations under sections 88 and 89 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (the GLA Act) (as amended) for determining the two component parts of the Mayor’s precept –
Item (A) the basic amount of council tax excluding the special item for the Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC), which applies in all 33 London billing authorities. This is calculated by dividing the consolidated council tax requirement, excluding the MOPAC component, by the council tax base for the whole of the Greater London Authority area. This is calculated as £78.38;
Item (B) the basic amount of council tax including the special item for MOPAC (which does not apply in the area of the Common Council of the City of London, which has its own police force). This is calculated by dividing the council tax requirement for MOPAC by the council tax base for the Metropolitan Police District area (i.e. excluding the City of London). This is calculated as £242.13.
Items A and B are added together to determine the Mayor’s precept for the 32 London boroughs. For 2019-20 this is £320.51 for a Band D property. Item A is the precept applying in the area of the Common Council of the City of London only (£78.38 per Band D property).
The second table in Appendix A sets out the amount of council tax for each of the eight different valuation bands (A to H) applying in the 32 boroughs and the City of London. The third table sets out the amounts of the precept to be issued to each billing authority (i.e. their individual Band D taxbases multiplied by £320.51 in each of the 32 boroughs and £78.38 in the City of London). The sums in the third table exclude the GLA’s share of each billing authority’s declared collection fund surplus or deficit for 2018-19 which will be added to or deducted from the precept amount shown when determining the instalments payable in 2019-20. The GLA’s share of the estimated net collection fund surplus for council tax for 2018-19 across the 33 London billing authorities is £22.14 million.
Appendix B contains two alternative versions of the explanatory information (i.e. the council tax leaflet text) for 2019-20 which will be issued to the 33 council tax billing authorities in London. The text provides an important opportunity for the Mayor and GLA to communicate with the occupiers of the estimated 3.6 million properties liable to council tax, London’s estimated 301,500 non domestic ratepayers (who may also receive this information at the discretion of their billing authorities), as well as Londoners more generally, on the GLA Group’s budget and priorities for the next financial year.
Depending on how each billing authority chooses to exercise their flexibilities under the 2012 Local Government Finance Act and the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) (Amendment) (No.2) (England) Regulations 2012, this supporting information will either be circulated to council taxpayers directly alongside their bills or made available on billing authority websites. Where the supporting information is only made available on billing authority websites then taxpayers should be provided with the web address as part of the billing information they receive. Council taxpayers may also request a hard copy of the supporting information be supplied to them by post by the billing authority if its general policy is to provide the information on their website only.
The long version represents the GLA’s preferred text and the short version sets out a shorter summary text which billing authorities may, at their discretion, circulate instead as part of their billing material in order to reduce their administration costs including postage. Both versions comply with the requirements of the Council Tax (Demand Notices) (England) Regulations 2011 as amended. These regulations specify what information must be included in communications to council taxpayers from major precepting (i.e. the GLA in London), levying (e.g. the London Pensions Fund Authority, Environment Agency and Lee Valley Regional Park Authority in London), and billing authorities. Printing and billing deadlines mean that billing authorities require the leaflet information as soon as is practicable.
It is proposed to publish the consolidated budget for the year and the component budgets for each constituent body for the next financial year by:
- Placing the consolidated budget, the component budgets and the supporting explanation considered by the Assembly on 25 February 2019 on the GLA website;
- Requesting that functional bodies place their budgets on their own websites; and
- Making copies available for inspection at City Hall.
Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, public authorities, such as the GLA (Mayor and Assembly) and the five functional bodies, must have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as for the need to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not. This involves having due regard to the need to remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share a relevant protected characteristic that is connected to that characteristic, taking steps to meet the different needs of such people; and encouraging them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low.
The relevant protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Compliance with the duty may involve treating people with a protected characteristic more favourably than those without the characteristic. The duty has applied to the formulation and approval of the GLA’s and functional bodies’ individual budgets and component council tax requirements, and the Mayor’s final draft budget, approved without amendment. This decision form now implements the approval of the precept calculations and issue of the GLA precept to the 33 billing authorities. Part 3 to the final draft budget provided advice on the equalities implications of the Mayor’s final draft budget.
Additionally, and complementarily, the Mayor is required by section 33(1) of the GLA Act to make appropriate arrangements with a view to securing that in the formulation and implementation of the Mayor’s statutory strategies due regard is had to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all.
Compliance with the public sector equality duty is necessarily iterative and on-going. It includes carrying out a process at a level proportionate to the decision being taken to identify and actively consider potential detrimental impacts (if any) that may arise for individual protected groups and what mitigations (if any) could be implemented to address them. The GLA (Mayor and Assembly) and the functional bodies will continue to carry out this process in the implementation of their individual budgets, strategies, policies, programmes and projects.
Links to Mayoral Strategies
There are no direct implications in relation to any GLA strategies arising from performing the precept calculations that are required to be made in accordance with the GLA Act and the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended. Where relevant these were addressed in the Mayor’s draft and final draft budgets presented to the Assembly.
Consultation arrangements
The Mayor issued guidance in June 2018 to the Greater London Authority and the functional bodies for preparing their budget submissions. The guidance sought to ensure that the Mayor’s budget proposals were an accurate reflection of his priority aims and objectives within available resources.
The subsequent budget process itself involved:
budget development by functional bodies and both parts of the GLA between June and November 2018;
budget submissions scrutinised and approved by the functional bodies before formal submission to the Mayor in November 2018;
the Mayor’s draft budget proposals considered, prepared and issued for consultation on 20 December 2018;
consultation undertaken on that document between 20 December 2018 and 14 January 2019;
scrutiny by the Assembly’s Budget and Performance Committee throughout the process;
• the presentation of the Mayor’s draft consolidated budget which was considered by the Assembly on 24 January 2019 and approved without amendment; and
• the presentation of the Mayor’s final draft budget which was approved without amendment by the Assembly on 25 February 2019.
The precepts and council tax requirements recommended for approval in this Decision are identical to those approved without amendment by the Assembly on 25 February 2019.
Risks
The Mayor’s precept and council tax requirement have been considered and approved in line with the requirements of the GLA Act. The precept will be collected and enforced by the 33 London billing authorities in line with established practice and having regard to relevant legislation.
On the basis of the Referendums Relating to Council Tax Increases (Principles) (England) Report 2019/20, the council tax precept levels (on the basis of both the adjusted and unadjusted relevant basic amount of council tax) proposed by the Mayor in his final draft budget were also determined to be compliant with the excessiveness principles contained in that Report as they apply to the GLA. There will therefore be no requirement for a referendum to be held to approve the precept.
There are no specific financial implications in addition to those already included in the final draft consolidated budget documentation. The calculations set out in this Decision have been made in compliance with sections 85 to 89 of the GLA Act. The Authority must now issue the proper notices to the 32 London boroughs and the City of London to facilitate their own budget and council tax setting processes. The costs of billing and printing of supporting information (if applicable) are met by billing authorities - as this is a statutory function they are required to undertake.
This section deals with legal matters not mentioned elsewhere in this Decision. Under Schedule 6 to the GLA Act, which sets out the procedure for the setting of the GLA budget, the Mayor must present a draft consolidated budget to the Assembly. As noted above, this was considered by the London Assembly at its meeting on 24 January 2019, and the Assembly approved the Draft Consolidated Budget without amendment.
As also noted above, on 15 February 2019 the Mayor published his final draft budget, and after the Assembly considered the Mayor’s final draft budget and supporting material at its meeting on 25 February 2019, the final draft budget was deemed to be approved by the Assembly without amendment. In accordance with paragraph 8(6) of Schedule 6 to the GLA Act, that final draft consolidated budget becomes the GLA's consolidated budget for the next financial year.
Under paragraph 11 of Schedule 6 to the GLA Act, the Mayor must 'as soon as practicable' publish the GLA's consolidated budget for the year and the component budget for each constituent body for the year. This decision form constitutes approval for the publication of those budgets for this purpose. Copies of that consolidated budget document must also be made available for inspection by the public at the GLA's principal office. It is noted above that the GLA will make the final budget available on its website.
GLA council tax requirement and precept calculations for 2019-20
Lines 5, 8 and 9 are rounded to the nearest whole penny.
Amounts of council tax for different valuation bands
The amount of council tax (in £) for each category of dwellings shown in column 1 in Table A below (i.e. the property valuation band), is, for the 32 London boroughs, the amount shown in column 3 of Table A below. This is given by multiplying the amount at line (9) in the table above by the proportion shown in column 2 of Table A below. It is calculated in accordance with section 92 of the GLA Act 1999 (“the GLA Act”), and sections 5 and 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”) as amended by the Local Authorities (Alteration of Requisite Calculations) (England) Regulations 2011. These amounts must be stated on the precept to be issued to each London borough council in accordance with section 40(2)(a) of the 1992 Act as amended and section 83 of the GLA Act.
The amount of council tax for each category of dwellings shown in column 1 in Table A below is, for the City of London, the amount shown in column 4 of Table A below. This is given by multiplying the amount at line (5) above by the proportion shown in column 2 of Table A below. It is calculated in accordance with section 92 of the Act, and sections 5 and 47 of the 1992 Act, as amended. These amounts must be stated on the precept to be issued to the Common Council of the City of London in accordance with section 40(2)(a) of the 1992 Act, as amended and section 83 of the GLA Act.
The proportions in column 2 of Table A below is calculated by dividing the number set out in section 5(1) of the 1992 Act, as applicable to dwellings listed in the valuation band by the number applicable to dwellings listed in valuation band D, in accordance with section 5 of the 1992 Act as amended.
TABLE A
Amount of the precept to be issued to each billing authority
The amount to be stated on the precept to be issued to each billing authority in accordance with section 40(2)(b) of the 1992 Act, is stated in column 4 of Table B below. It is calculated in accordance with section 48 of the 1992 Act and section 93 of the GLA Act by multiplying the tax base shown in column 2 of Table B below by the amount shown in column 3 of Table B below.
TABLE B
Proposed explanatory communication to council taxpayers to be submitted to the 33 London billing authorities
Long Version (Greater London Authority’s Preferred Text)
Introduction
This is Sadiq Khan’s third budget as the Mayor of London. It is built around his vision of a London where nobody feels left behind and where everyone has the opportunity they need to fulfil their potential. It supports London’s future growth and economic success, building on our City’s thriving economy, extraordinary creativity, tolerance, diversity and openness to the world.
Sadiq Khan will not tolerate any waste of public money, particularly against a background of tightening resources from the Government over the last decade. This year’s budget has required some tough choices. It will improve the key services Londoners need. That means ensuring transport fares are more affordable and building more homes. The budget provides resources to support jobs and growth, tackle rough sleeping and make London a fairer and cleaner place to live too. It also provides extra resources from council tax and business rates for the Metropolitan Police and London Fire Brigade to keep Londoners safe. This will help offset the ongoing impact of real terms cuts in government grant since 2010.
Council tax for GLA services
Controlling costs at City Hall and delivering the Mayor’s key priorities
The Mayor will also work with London’s business community and key investors to ensure London’s interests are protected. He will put Londoners’ economic opportunities centre stage in light of the uncertainty arising from the UK’s expected departure from the European Union. He will provide funding for new projects to bring communities together, tackle social inequality and boost London’s economy.
The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC)
The MPS has to rise to meet these challenges at a time of acute financial pressure. As a result of the reductions in Home Office grant for policing over the last decade, it has had to close more than 100 police stations and remove 2,800 police support staff and Police Community Support Officer roles in order to protect officer numbers.
To keep Londoners safe, the Mayor is raising the police element of his council tax precept by £24 for a typical Band D property. He will also maintain an additional £59 million of funding through business rates. This will fund an additional 1,300 police officers but will not compensate for the government’s cuts to police funding since 2010.
Transport for London (TfL)
London’s population is forecast to grow by one million in the next decade. TfL is investing to make the transport network more reliable and accessible. The Mayor’s priorities for TfL include:
- making transport more affordable. Single bus fares, single pay as you go fares on the Tube and DLR and the charges for the Santander cycle hire scheme will be frozen until at least 2020. This will save travellers an estimated £40 million in 2019-20;
- the introduction of the new Bus and Tram one-hour Hopper fare and investing to improve journey times and reliability on the bus network;
- working with London boroughs to maintain existing concessionary travel and assisted door to door transport schemes. This includes providing free 24-hour travel for the over 60s, the disabled, armed forces personnel in uniform and eligible war veterans and protecting the Taxicard and Dial a Ride schemes. Discounts on travelcards are also available for apprentices;
- increasing capacity on the London Underground and rail services and maintaining the Night Tube and Night Overground services;
- extending the Barking Gospel Oak line to Barking Riverside and expanding capacity on the DLR and tram network;
- planning for the Bakerloo line extension to south east London and new river crossings in east London;
- working to complete the Elizabeth line (formerly Crossrail) - which will increase central London’s rail capacity by ten per cent - and the Northern line extension to Nine Elms and Battersea Power station as soon as possible;
- continuing work to develop Crossrail 2 and working towards the release of more TfL land to provide new affordable workspaces and homes across London;
- introducing an Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London from April 2019 to tackle local air pollution and adopting a Vision Zero plan which will help to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on London’s roads;
- making public transport more accessible for everyone. Step-free access is planned to be introduced at a further 15 suburban tube stations by Spring 2020. All new Elizabeth line stations will also be step free; and
- investing a record £2.3 billion by 2024 through his Healthy Streets scheme to fund a range of schemes designed to make walking, cycling and public transport safer, cleaner and more appealing. This includes funding for major new high-quality cycle routes between Brentford and Olympia, Tower Bridge and Woolwich, Tottenham and Camden and Hackney and the Isle of Dogs.
London Fire Commissioner (LFC)
The Mayor’ funding ensures that the London Fire Brigade’s first and second fire engines attending an emergency incident arrive, on average, within six and eight minutes respectively. He is also supporting the Brigade’s investment in new vehicles and equipment, and the continued promotion of community safety and fire prevention across London.
London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC)
The LLDC was set up to ensure that the city benefits from a long-term legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Mayor’s 2019-20 budget provides funding for the development of a world class cultural and education district, East Bank, in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This is expected to create 3,000 new jobs, attract 1.5 million additional visitors and bring £2.8 billion of economic value to east London.
Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC)
Summary of GLA Group budget
The tables below show where the GLA’s funding comes from and the reasons for the year on year change in the budget. It also explains how the GLA has calculated the sum to be collected from council tax (the council tax requirement).
Detailed budget by service area
The table below compares the GLA Group’s expenditure on policing, fire and other services (including transport) in 2019-20 with 2018-19.
The GLA’s gross expenditure is higher this year. This is mainly due to the impact of extra investment planned by the Mayor in transport, policing and the fire service. Overall the council tax requirement has increased because of the extra funding for the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade. There has also been a 1.9 per cent increase in London’s residential property taxbase. Find out more about our budget at: www.london.gov.uk/budget (tel: 020 7983 4000).
Proposed explanatory communication to council taxpayers to be submitted to the 33 London billing authorities
Short Version
To be used – at their discretion – by billing authorities seeking to reduce the length and cost of producing their explanatory supporting text to council taxpayers on efficiency grounds.
Introduction
This is Sadiq Khan’s third budget as the Mayor of London. It is built around his vision of a London where nobody feels left behind and where everyone has the opportunities they need to fulfil their potential. It supports London’s future growth and economic success, building on our City’s thriving economy, extraordinary creativity, tolerance, diversity and openness to the world.
Sadiq Khan will not tolerate any waste of public money, particularly against a background of tightening resources from the Government over the last decade. This year’s budget has required some tough choices. It will improve the key services Londoners need. That means ensuring transport fares are more affordable and building more homes. The budget also provides resources to support jobs and growth, tackle rough sleeping and make London a fairer and cleaner place to live. The Mayor will also provide extra resources from council tax and business rates for the Metropolitan Police and London Fire Brigade to keep Londoners safe. This will help offset the ongoing impact of real terms cuts in government grant since 2010.
Council tax for GLA services
The GLA’s share of the council tax for a typical Band D property has been increased by £26.28 (or 50p per week) to £320.51. The additional income raised will fund the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade. Council taxpayers in the City of London, which has its own police force, will pay £78.38.
Investing in frontline services
This budget will enable the Mayor to fulfil his key priorities for London. These include:
- making transport more affordable. Single bus fares, single pay as you go fares on the Tube and DLR and Santander cycle hire scheme charges will be frozen until at least 2020. This will save travellers around £40 million a year. A new bus and tram one hour Hopper fare has also been introduced;
- continuing to tackle London’s housing crisis, using £4.8 billion of funding to support starts of 116,000 new affordable homes by 2022;
- providing the best policing service possible within the funding made available by the Government with resources being provided in his Budget for an additional 1,300 police officers in 2019-20;
- providing extra resources to support disadvantaged young Londoners and protect vulnerable children and women at risk of abuse and domestic violence;
- providing sufficient resources to the London Fire Brigade to ensure that first and second fire engines arrive at emergency incidents, on average, within six and eight minutes respectively;
- working with London boroughs to maintain existing concessionary travel and assisted door to door transport schemes. This includes free 24 hour travel for the over 60s, the disabled, armed forces personnel in uniform and eligible war veterans and protecting the Taxicard and Dial a Ride schemes. Discounts on travelcards are also available for apprentices;
- increasing capacity on the London Underground and working to complete the Elizabeth line (formerly Crossrail), the Northern line extension to Battersea Power station and the Overground extension to Barking Riverside as soon as possible. The Mayor will also maintain the Night Tube and Night Overground services;
- investing £2.3 billion in Healthy Streets by 2024 to fund projects to enable more walking and cycling across London. The Mayor will also introduce the Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London to tackle local air pollution;
- making public transport more accessible for everyone. Step-free access is planned to be introduced at a further 15 suburban tube stations by Spring 2020. All new Elizabeth line stations will be step free; and
- funding projects to bring Londoners together, promote arts and culture, help tackle inequality, improve the environment, and boost London’s economy.
Summary of GLA budget
The following tables compare the GLA group’s spending for 2019-20 with last year and set out why it has changed. The GLA’s gross expenditure is higher this year. This is mainly due to the impact of extra investment planned by the Mayor in transport, policing and the fire service. Overall the council tax requirement has increased because of the extra funding for the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade. There has also been a 1.9 per cent increase in London’s residential property taxbase. Find out more about our budget at: www.london.gov.uk/budget (tel: 020 7983 4000).
Signed decision document
MD2434 Approval of 2019-20 Council Tax and Precepts