Decision details

The Mayor and the Executive Member for Finance submitted a report for Executive’s consideration. The report was a key stage in the budget development process for 2025/26 and the Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for the four-year period to 2028/29. It presented budget and council tax proposals that would achieve a legally balanced budget for 2025/26; a balanced position for 2026/27 with a remaining budget gap in 2027/28 and 2028/29.

AGREED that Executive:

1.    Note the update on the key budget assumptions upon which the 2025/26 budget and MTFP to 2028/29 was calculated and were detailed in paragraphs 4.62 to 4.67 in the report.

2.    Note the proposed draft budgets for 2025/26 and 2026/27 were balanced, with a gap of £2.686m in 2027/28 and rising to £5.150m in 2028/29 and were detailed in paragraphs 4.124 and 4.125 in the report.

3.    Note that further work was required to fully assess the Council’s financial position once the detail of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement was published.

4.    Note that Transformation Programme business cases must be robust, and adequately assured to enable their inclusion in the proposed 2025/26 budget and MTFP. Work was continuing to develop detailed business cases within the Recover, Reset, Deliver Transformation Programme in relation to the cross-cutting Programmes: Target Operating Model including Customer Services, Neighbourhoods, IT and Digital. These programmes would fundamentally modernise and redesign the Council’s service delivery models to achieve improved outcomes for the community from a lower cost base. It was intended that these would be brought forward to the 5 February 2025 Executive for incorporation into the overall budget to be considered by Council on 19 February 2025.

AGREED that Executive:

1.    Endorse total proposals for savings and income growth of £7.036m in 2025/26 rising to £8.686m in 2028/29, of which £0.249m were deemed to involve policy change and/or impact service delivery levels and would be subject to public consultation and were detailed in Appendices one and two in the report.

2.    Endorse total budget growth for re-investment in services aligned to the Recover, Reset, Deliver plan of £2.361m in 2025/26 rising to £2.558m in 2028/29 detailed in Appendix three of the report.

3.    Endorse the proposed total Council Tax increase of 4.99% for 2025/26 comprising:

·         2.99% increase in general Council Tax and

·         2% Adult Social Care Precept.

4.    Endorse the proposed arrangements to make financial provision against the risk of delivering the 2025/26 budget and MTFP which would enable the Council to set a robust budget without an application for reliance upon Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) from Government as detailed in paragraph 4.65 of the report.

5.    Endorse that, where applicable, budget consultation would commence, on 5 December 2024 conclude on 8 January 2025 prior to finalising the proposed budget by Executive on 5 February 2025 for consideration and approval by Council on 19 February 2025