Our Finances

Hampshire County Council provides vital services for 1.3 million people. An overall annual budget of £1.9 billion was set to provide these services for 2011/12.

In 2011/12, our general government funding was cut by 14.3% compared to the previous year. This was the highest percentage cut for any English county council. We also receive a low amount of government funding per person compared to many other councils.

£55m of savings was achieved in 2011/12. This strong performance in reducing expenditure meant that the impact on services from the cuts in public funding could be minimised.

Following the end of each financial year, the County Council publishes an annual Statement of Accounts, showing the sources of income available and how they have been used to provide services.

Our spending

Education and children's services, £1,182,553,000
Adult social care, £440,936,000
Other services, corporate and non-distributed costs, £163,917,000
Cultural, environmental and planning, £120,826,000
Highways and transport services, £110,109,000

Where our money came from

Council tax, £531,284,000 , 62%
National business rates, £141,816,000 , 17%
Capital grants and contributions, £118,695,000 , 14%
Non-ringfenced government grants, £56,997,000 , 7%

Non-ring fenced government grants mainly comprise:

Revenue support grant: general funding from the Government for core council services. It is based on the Government’s assessment of the Council’s spending need, its receipt from national business rates and its ability to generate income from council tax.
Area based grant: a general grant allocated by the government directly to local authorities as additional revenue funding. Local authorities are free to use the grant to support the delivery of local, regional and national priorities.

National business rates are charges collected by district councils from non-domestic properties, at a national rate in the pound set by Government.The proceeds are pooled nationally and redistributed to areas based on the Government’s assessment of spending need and local resources.

As we get a low amount of Government grant per head of population, most services in Hampshire are funded by your council tax.

Final accounts

The final accounts set out the cost of running Hampshire County Council’s services in 2011/12. These are published in the format required by international accounting standards and the code of practice for preparing local authority final accounts. Full details are available in the 2011/12 Statement of Accounts.

The General Fund

The General Fund balance is the surplus of revenue income over expenditure. It compares the Council's spending against the council tax it raised for the year, taking into account the use of reserves built up in the past and contributions to reserves earmarked for future expenditure.

The surplus on the provision of services shown on the Comprehensive Statement of Income and Expenditure includes items which the Government stipulates should not be chargeable to the General Fund. These are mainly associated with asset depreciation and retirement benefit accrual which do not necessarily lead to short or medium term cash flows. Therefore, these are transferred to the Balance Sheet and replaced with the employer’s pension contribution and the annual repayment of loans for capital expenditure.

	£m
General Fund balance at 31 March 2011	21
Surplus on the provision of services	15
Net adjustment between accounting basis and funding basis	57
Balance before transfer to earmarked reserves	93
Transfers to earmarked reserves	-75
General Fund balance at 31 March 2012	18

Further details about the General Fund can be found in the Movement in Reserves Statement and notes 6 to 8 of the 2011/12 Statement of Accounts.

The Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet presents the financial position of the County Council at 31 March 2012. It shows what the Council owned, owes and was owed on that date.

	£m
What we own:
Land, buildings, vehicles, equipment and infrastructure	3,724
Money owed to the Council	466
	4,190
Less what we owe:
Money owed by the Council	837
Pension Fund net liability	978
	1815
Equals what we are worth:	2,375
Financed by:
Cash-backed reserves *	307
Non-cash-backed reserves #	2,068
Total net worth	2,375

* Cash-backed reserves are available, as needed, to finance revenue and capital spending.