Agenda item

(A report of Christine Marshall, Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development and Section 151 Officer)

The Portfolio Holder – Finance presented the draft Budget Overview – 2024/25 which included the five year Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) from 2024/25 to 2028/29, along with the recommended level of Council Tax 2024/25.

During the presentation the Portfolio Holder – Finance explained that the creation of the budget had been extremely challenging. The budget had been set within a background of unprecedented inflationary pressures and significant changes in resident, customer and business needs.

The draft budget for 2024/25 had been prepared in detail with the information available at the time and would continue to be refined over the coming weeks.

Draft settlement detailing the allocations of Revenue Support grant, Rural Services Delivery grant, New Homes Bonus and the Funding Guarantee was received from Government on 18^th December 2023 and had been built into the budgets, the final settlement figures would be received in February 2024 and budgets would be updated to reflect any changes.

As part of the budget setting process a number of pressured had been identified and included in the budget; including the pay award at 3.5% for 2024/25, increases in the Internal Drainage Board Levy, increases in contract costs, rent rebate and allowances, and homelessness service pressures.

Government restrict the increase in Council Tax to a maximum of 3% or £5. A 3% increase would mean an additional £7.20 for a Band D property. This would generate an additional £146,000 for the authority.

Officers were waiting for the National Non-Domestic Rates to be completed at the end of January 2024 before the budget could be updated to include the 2024/25 Business Rate figures.

Internal Drainage Boards (IDB) continued to be an ever-increasing pressure with an estimated increase for 2024/25 of £35,000. The Council was in ongoing discussions with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and a specialist lobby group had been set up to lobby the Government on the IDB increases.

The Capital programme was in draft and was still subject to final amendments, including the Towns Fund allocation of £20million. There was ongoing investment through the use of grant funding from Towns Fund, UKSPF and Levelling Up funding and continuing investment for the Disabled Facilities Grant, investment in IT and vehicle replacements.

Work was being undertaken to identify solutions to the gap in balancing the budget, both short and medium term. Detailed transformation, savings and efficiencies programmes were being developed and would be brought forward for Members consideration.

Following Members questions the Deputy Chief Executive - Corporate Development & Section 151 Officer confirmed that;

• External Audit could raise an additional charge request although it was hoped this would not be necessary.
• Any affect to service delivery would be treated as a last case scenario to close the budget gap.

RESOLVED:

1. That Cabinet approve the Draft Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy for the period 2024/25 – 2028/29 for consultation.
2. That Cabinet note the intention to seek alignments of constitutional financial limits across the partnership as part of the budget setting process.

Notes the proposal for the final budget, and all future years, to include an annual RPI uplift to be included for all fees and charges where applicable.