Decision details

The Executive Member for Finance submitted a report for Executive consideration which set out the proposed 2026/27 Revenue Budget, Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP), and Council Tax proposals following the publication of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.

 

 

ORDERED the Executive to approve that the following are forwarded to

Council for approval:

 

1. Proposed service budget growth of £6.460m from 2026/27 in order to reinvest in some direct services to the community and provide reinvestment in the resilience of enabling services (detailed in Appendix 3)

 

2. Budget provision of £15.549m for 2026/27 rising to £35.963m in 2029/30 to address forecast service demand pressures and re-basing of budgets (including for reduced income levels and legislative requirements). This includes the decision by Executive not to increase school meals prices for parents who do not receive free school meals in order to support families, for which budget provision of £0.230m for 2026/27 rising to £0.371m in 2029/30 has been provided (paragraphs 4.59 to 4.61 and Appendix 1)

 

3. Budget provision of £0.499m p.a. from 2026/27 for Corporate Demand, and the continuation of the Member Led Ward Schemes budget of £0.235m p.a.  from 2026/27 (Table 7 in paragraph 4.62)

 

4. Budget provision of £2.458m p.a. from 2026/27 to remove savings from the MTFP which are now found to be unachievable in the manner originally intended (paragraph 4.65)
5. No increase in core (general) Council Tax for 2026/27, but an increase in Council Tax for 2026/27 of 2% relating to the Adult Social Care precept to fund increased costs of statutory duties in Adult Social Care (paragraph 4.30), resulting in a proposed Council Tax level (Band D) of £2,115.86 excluding parish, Fire, and Police precepts (detailed in Appendix 11)

 

6. The proposed General Fund revenue budget for 2026/27 with a net budget requirement of £200.675m (Appendix 5)

 

7. The Financial Reserves Policy for 2026/27 (Appendix 7) including the proposed contributions to reserves to strengthen the Council’s financial resilience and the setting up of a new Budget Smoothing Reserve from 2026/27

 

8. The proposed Fees & Charges Policy for 2026/27, and the schedule of fees and charges arising from the application of the approved policy for 2026/27 (Appendix 8)

 

9. The Capital Strategy Report 2026/27 and the proposed 2026/27 to 2029/30 Capital Programme totalling £183.741m which includes the addition of new Council funded schemes and additions to current schemes and extension of schemes deemed Business as Usual totalling £11.735m in 2026/27 and  rising to £56.633m by 2029/30, and the associated financing statement (Appendix 9)

 

10. The Flexible Use of Capital Receipts (FUoCR) Strategy for 2026/27 including transformation and redundancy expenditure as part of the Transformation Programme amounting to £5.789m which can be capitalised in 2026/27 (Appendix 10)

 

11. The Pay Policy Statement for 2026/27 which sets out the Council’s policies on remuneration of its staff in accordance with Section 38 of the Localism Act 2011 (Appendix 13)

 

AGREED the Executive:

 

1. Notes the statutory s25 report of the Council’s Section 151 Officer in respect of the robustness of the estimates within the budget and the adequacy of reserves (Appendix 6)

 

2. Notes that the Council’s S151 officer recommends that the Council increases the Council Tax each year by the maximum allowed by the Government due to the reasons outlined in paragraph 4.31. However, whilst not recommended, given the improved financial position and financial resilience of the Council and the improved governance and budget spending controls that exist, and the increased Government funding available to the Council it is possible to financially accommodate a decision by the Mayor and Executive for a lower than maximum increase in core (general) Council Tax to be proposed to  Council for 2026/27 (paragraph 4.32). Also, it is recommended that no decisions are made in relation to 2027/28 and 2028/29 Council Tax increases, and these should be made at a later date when there is more certainty on the financial position (paragraph 4.33)

 

3. Notes the updated financial planning assumptions in the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan following the publication of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, and that these will be updated further following publication of the Final Local Government Finance Settlement in early February 2026, with any changes being reported to the Council on 18 February 2026 as part of the budget setting report

 

4. Notes the Government funding in the form of Fair Funding Allocation (Revenue Support Grant, Local Authority Better Care Fund, Retained Business Rates and Business Rates Top up Payment) of £130.960m in 2026/27 (summarised in Table 1a in paragraph 4.14), which is an increase of £14.171m for 2026/27 (as shown in Table 1b in paragraph 4.14)

 

5. Notes the increase in the Council’s Core Spending Power (the Government’s calculation used to illustrate the overall impact of local authority funding which includes the Settlement funding, the Government’s assessment of Council Tax income, and various specific grants) from 2025/26 to 2028/29 is £57.369m or 28.3% and from 2024/25 to 2028/29 £75.096m or 40.6% (paragraph 4.17)

 

6. Notes that there is no requirement currently for the Council to make any additional further budget savings in 2026/27 other than those already included in the current MTFP, however work will continue to identify and deliver efficiencies and savings in the future through robust budget monitoring and the Transformation Programme (paragraphs 4.63 and 4.69)

 

7. Notes the updated Medium Term Financial Plan position for 2026/27 to 2029/30 highlighting a balanced budget each year for the MTFP period (Table 12 in paragraph 4.74)

 

8. Notes the feedback of the budget consultation exercise (paragraphs 4.76 to 4.86 and Appendix 4)

 

9. Notes the forecast level of Council reserves over the period of the MTFP from 2026/27 to 2029/30 following the proposed budget, and that the proposed budget and MTFP should not negatively impact reserves levels in the medium term. The estimated balances on unrestricted usable revenue reserves as at 1 April 2026 of:

 

·         General Fund balance - £11.100m

·         Unrestricted Usable Earmarked reserves – £14.837m

 

10. Notes the details of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Grant for 2026/27 and the allocation to schools, the forecast total cumulative DSG deficit of £31.213m on 31 March 2026, and the risk to the Council if Government does not provide a suitable funding solution (Appendix 12)

 

11. Notes that the budgets for the Members’ Small Scheme programme for 2025/26 and 2026/27 would be reprofiled to allocate £150,000 for 2025/26 and £120,000 for 2026/27. The £6,400 underspend from 2025/26 would be rolled over to 2026/27 and £7,500 would be brought forward from 2027/28, resulting in a total allocation of £133,900 for 2026/27 to cover all eligible schemes proposed for that year.

 

12. Notes that wording on appendix 3 would be amended to clarify that increased capacity would enable the Council to extend the service beyond back alleys and open spaces to domestic properties, ensuring it was clear that the expanded offer focused on key public health pests. This amendment was made to avoid the wording being interpreted as applying to offices or shops, and it was noted that a separate report would follow setting out detailed operational arrangements.