Issue - meetings

To receive a report of the Executive Director (Finance and Transformation) and recommendations from the Budget Task and Finish Panel.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) was being asked to make recommendations to Special Cabinet to consider at its meeting on 21 January 2025 before the budget was put to Council on 3 February 2025.

The Chair of the Budget Task and Finish Group, Councillor Michaelides, provided an update as follows:

‘The Budget Setting Task and Finish Panel met three times between November 2024 and January 2025.

In the first session, we were given an overview of the initial medium-term forecasts and the anticipated budget gap for the next three years. We discussed some of the newer pressures facing the Council, in particular the pressures on homelessness and benefit subsidy losses.

At the second session in December, we had a presentation from officers on the financial position of our leisure services and in particular, a focus on the income generation activities and how the teams are driving a change and expansion in activities to increase income. It was noted at the third meeting that the subsidy for Campus West is again forecast to reduce, to around £270k for 2025/26.

We were presented with the majority of the proposed budget savings during the second session, along with a handful of areas of unavoidable growth. We also had an update on the progress of the benefits subsidy losses work, and information on the provisional settlement. 

In the final session that was held last night, we discussed the impact of the settlement on the proposed budget, and the final savings items. We were presented with the updates to the Capital Programme and the Housing Revenue Account, before being provided with the medium term forecasts. 

Throughout all sessions, members of the panel were engaged and asked questions of officers on a range of items. Some fees and charges were discussed in more detail, and the panel noted they were pleased that there were no substantial increases in fees and charges.

One area that the panel explored with officers was around the fees and charges that had not been increased and where the Council is limited in what it can charge. In particular, a discussion was held around gambling licences. Officers explained there is a consultation on the settlement and future financing of councils which the Council would respond to, and one of the areas the Government was seeking views on was councils’ discretion over fees and charges.  It was recommended by the panel, that when the council respond to the consultation, it has a particular focus on this area. The Council should respond asking the Government to devolve fee setting wherever possible, to provide councils with the ability to set fees and charges appropriately.

It should also ask that for any charges that continue to be set nationally, legislation be updated to include provision for annual inflationary increases, which is not currently the case for all nationally set charges.’

During the discussion a Member commented that he was keen to see something done about smaller Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and that officers had recommended  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26

Report of the Executive Director (Finance & Transformation)

Decision taken

1.    Cabinet noted:

a)     the Statement of the Chief Financial Officer on the robustness of budgets and adequacy of reserves (appendix N).

b)    that the following amounts for the year 2025/26 have been set in accordance with regulations made under Sections 31A and 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992:

2.    Cabinet approved the budget proposals as set out in the agenda and note that any comments from Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be returned to Special Cabinet on 21 January 2025 for consideration, before final recommendations are made to Council.

Reason for decision

The budget proposals were aligned to the Council’s Business Plan targets for 2025/26.

The Council’s ability to deliver a balanced budget has becomes more challenging each year, after a period of significant grant reductions, inflationary increases and the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. There had been a rise in demands on services such as homelessness which had added even more pressures. A multi-year settlement would be provided next year which will provide much needed certainty.

The Medium Term forecasts were updated and approved in October 2024, which showed an increased budget gap for 2025/26 of around 4.5 million pounds.

General Fund

The General Fund budget was summarised in Appendix A, and split by service in Appendix B.

The starting point for 2025/26 is a forecast, General Fund reserve balance, of £6.5m. 

The 2025/26 budget included an increase in the Net Cost of Services of £1.5m, to £16.1m which included the inflationary impacts, along with growth and savings as set out in appendices C and D.

The changes were summarised in Section 3.1.6 of the report.

Savings had been identified to the Council’s base budget of just over £1.8m, which would support the Council to meet its growth areas of spend of £2m, and inflationary impacts of £1.4m.

It was proposed to increase Council Tax by just under 3% per Band D property, the maximum allowed without a referendum.

A full review of fees and charges had been undertaken as set out in Appendices E and H which had included looking at cost recovery of discretionary services and benchmarking with other councils.

Appendix E also included a cover sheet to highlight those fees and charges which have deviated from a purely inflationary increase, and the justification for these deviations.

The provisional settlement from the Government was higher than anticipated when setting the MTFS, which had assisted the Council in balancing the budget for 2025/26, but it was not certain these grants would continue, the use of these for one year, puts additional pressures on later years in the MTFS.

The new Medium Term Financial Strategy in Appendix L set out further gaps of £1.7 m in 2026/27 rising to a cumulative gap of £6m by 2028/29, after a planned use of reserves of £2.7m over the MTFS period.

The planned use was a response to funding reductions expected, details of which are set out in the Council’s Reserves Policy.

It would be challenging to  ...  view the full decision text for item 341

Cabinet received a report of Executive Director (Finance and Transformation) on budget proposals for recommendation to Full Council in relation to:

• General Fund and Housing Revenue budgets.
• The Capital Programme and Financing Strategy.
• Fees and Charges.
• The Medium Term Financial Strategy.
• Special Expense Details

The proposals would be considered by the Budget Task and Finish Panel, who will make report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 9^th January, who in turn, may make recommendations for our consideration at Special Cabinet on the 21^st January. The budget proposals would then be considered by Full Council on 3^rd February 2025.

During the discussion the following points were raised:

·         Officers were thanked for their work and support in the budget setting process.

·         it was noted that the costs associated with temporary accommodation were increasing.

Decision taken

1.    Cabinet noted:

a)     the Statement of the Chief Financial Officer on the robustness of budgets and adequacy of reserves (appendix N).

b)    that the following amounts for the year 2025/26 have been set in accordance with regulations made under Sections 31A and 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992:

2.    Cabinet approved the budget proposals as set out in the agenda and note that any comments from Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be returned to Special Cabinet on 21 January 2025 for consideration, before final recommendations are made to Council.

Reason for decision

The budget proposals were aligned to the Council’s Business Plan targets for 2025/26.

The Council’s ability to deliver a balanced budget has becomes more challenging each year, after a period of significant grant reductions, inflationary increases and the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. There had been a rise in demands on services such as homelessness which had added even more pressures. A multi-year settlement would be provided next year which will provide much needed certainty.

The Medium Term forecasts were updated and approved in October 2024, which showed an increased budget gap for 2025/26 of around 4.5 million pounds.

General Fund

The General Fund budget was summarised in Appendix A, and split by service in Appendix B.

The starting point for 2025/26 is a forecast, General Fund reserve balance, of £6.5m. 

The 2025/26 budget included an increase in the Net Cost of Services of £1.5m, to £16.1m which included the inflationary impacts, along with growth and savings as set out in appendices C and D.

The changes were summarised in Section 3.1.6 of the report.

Savings had been identified to the Council’s base budget of just over £1.8m, which would support the Council to meet its growth areas of spend of £2m, and inflationary impacts of £1.4m.

It was proposed to increase Council Tax by just under 3% per Band D property, the maximum allowed without a referendum.

A full review of fees and charges had been undertaken as set out in Appendices E and H which had included looking at cost recovery of discretionary services and benchmarking with other councils.

Appendix E also included a cover  ...  view the full minutes text for item 341