In order to plan for this reduction and a proposed national Council Tax freeze, while continuing to deliver the council’s priorities, a number of savings and spending proposals have been published as part of a Revenue Budget Framework and Medium Term Financial Plan.

Proposals include:

• a revised employer pension contribution rate of 17.6% which could save the council £16.5 million without impacting the value of employee pensions;
• continuing to provide annual support to the Council’s transport ALEOs worth £12.95 million in recognition of changing patterns of commuter usage;
• additional actual investment of £11.4 million towards the delivery of health and social care services;
• accelerating Council service payments to Edinburgh Leisure in 2024/25 of up to £3.2 million to provide additional financial support in 2024/25, including sums that would allow payment of the Real Living Wage, pending development of sustainable longer-term plans to ensure the organisation’s financial sustainability;
• net savings of £1.7 million on the council’s energy spend, supporting sustainability goals;
• recommendations to avoid reductions to school budgets in the 2024/25 academic session, further to a cross-party motion passed at last Tuesday’s Education, Children and Families Committee meeting; and
• an ongoing change programme to underpin the transformation required by the council if it is to close future budget gaps.

At a meeting last Thursday, the Finance and Resources Committee also heard how the city faces a like-for-like cash-terms reduction in core grant funding of £10 million in 2024/25.

A further meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee will take place on 6 February, before decisions are made at a special budget-setting meeting of the full council on 22 February.

Cammy Day, council leader, said: “In four weeks’ time we will need to set the city’s budget for the year ahead so I’m pleased to see these proposals suggest a positive way forward.

“My priority as we agree savings and investments will be to ensure we continue to protect the core services on which so many people depend. We need to stay true to our ambitions, to focus on our financial plan and ending poverty, becoming net zero and creating a good, inclusive place to live and work.

“What’s clear however is that we can’t achieve this alone. As a council, we can shape and influence change through our policies and plans, but this needs to be a team effort, a pulling together of resources and plans across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

“So, while we develop sustainable financial plans to help us achieve savings, we also need to maximise the opportunities we have to raise more local income – including introducing a Visitor Levy as quickly as legislation will allow.

“It’s also imperative that we find a better way of working with the Scottish Government which, yet again, seems set on making Edinburgh the most underfunded council in Scotland. An estimated £10m reduction in the city’s funding is hugely disproportionate and I am urging the Scottish Government to reconsider. It is not to late listen to local government and put this right.

“Over the next few weeks through COSLA and directly with ministers I will continue to fight for fairer funding for our capital city.”

Mandy Watt, finance and resources convener, added: “This report, presented at committee on 25 January, highlights the increasingly difficult decisions we’re taking ahead of the budget in February. The scale of our financial challenge is clear to see.

“Local authorities have suffered a decade of continuous real term income cuts from central government and Edinburgh is no exception. This is despite the unique pressures which come with being Scotland’s capital city – our projected population growth, the climate crisis, escalating poverty under the cost-of-living crisis, unprecedented service running costs and our housing and homelessness emergency.

“The suggestions being put forward by officers to balance the budget are hugely important and I’m immensely grateful for their work on this, particularly in proposing funding for Edinburgh Leisure and for finding potential alternatives to education cuts.”