Issue - meetings

Appendix A to this report will follow in a supplementary papers pack.

This report is due to be pre-scrutinised at a meeting of the Budget Scrutiny Working Group scheduled to take place on 31^st January 2025.  Any recommendations arising from this meeting, subject to being endorsed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, will be reported for the Executive Committee’s consideration in a supplementary papers pack for this meeting.

The Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer presented the MTFP 2025/26 to 2027/28 Tranche 2 report for the Executive Committee’s consideration.

In opening the presentation of the report, the Section 151 Officer explained that Appendix A to the report was not yet available to share with Members.  The Government had not provided clarification on the Local Government Settlement until the day before the Executive Committee meeting and this had provided insufficient time to update the Appendix for the meeting.  Officers were also continuing to review information arising as a result of the recent closure of the Council’s accounts for 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 and this would be incorporated into the final version of the appendix.  A copy of that appendix would be made available for Members’ consideration at the following meeting of the Executive Committee, scheduled to take place on 24^th February 2025.

A verbal update was provided to the Committee on the content of the Local Government Settlement for the Council.  Members were advised that figures in relation to National Insurance rises had been provided and these were roughly equivalent to the level of funding that had been anticipated for the authority.  By contrast, Bromsgrove District Council would be receiving £200,000 less than anticipated for National Insurance increases and this would need to be addressed in that authority’s budget.

The local government settlement had been anticipated to increase core spending power for local authorities by 6 per cent.  However, like most District Councils, Redditch Borough Council had received a 0 per cent increase on core spending power.  Only 30 District Councils in the country had received an increase in core spending power and as a consequence, core spending power for District Councils had only been increased by 0.3 per cent.  In order to break even, Officers were proposing that the Council would have to increase Council Tax by the maximum level permitted, without holding a referendum, of 2.99 per cent.

The Council would be receiving some grant funding in the budget valued at £1.061 million and comprising a range of different grants.  The Council’s revenue grant position would remain roughly stable at £10.94 million.  The Government had awarded a one year settlement but from 2026/27 onwards, three year settlements were anticipated for local government and the Council needed to ensure that the authority engaged in any consultation processes relating to the funding calculations.

There had been some changes to budget projections since the MTFP Tranche 1 report was considered by the Executive Committee.  This included:

·             A proposal to increase Council Tax by 2.99 per cent.

·             The Actuaries for the Worcestershire Pension Scheme were suggesting that there would not be a need for the increases to employer contributions that had previously been anticipated.

·             Budgets relating to salaries for 2024/25 had been adjusted to take into account the staff pay award.

·             The earmarked reserve for Financial Services had been reviewed and linked to the one-year growth item in that area.

·             There was a proposed uplift to fees and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76