Decision details

Cabinet resolved to recommend the Assembly to:

(i)  Agree that the basic amount of Council Tax (Band D equivalent) shall increase by 2.99%, and by a further 2% for the Adult Social Care precept, bringing the total increase to 4.99%;

(ii)  Agree that the Council Tax to be set for 2024/25 shall be £1,531.35 for a Band D property, comprising £1,310.70 for core Council Tax and £220.65 for the Adult Social Care precept, an increase of £43.61 and £29.17 per year respectively;

(iii)  Note that the Council shall levy an additional £471.40 on the Band D amount above on behalf of the Greater London Authority which represented an increase of 8.6%;

(iv)  Note the amount of 54,916.54 as the Council Tax Base for Barking and Dagenham for 2024/25, an increase of 1,589.69 on the previous year, in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 made under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended);

(v)  Agree, in setting the Council’s General Fund revenue budget, to set the Council Tax requirement at £84.096m for 2024/25;

(vi)  Consider and have due regard to budget consultation feedback with residents and businesses as set out in Section 20 to the report and note that no changes were recommended as a result;

(vii)  Agree the Statutory Budget Determination for 2024/25 as set out at Appendix D to the report;

(viii)  Approve the proposed General Fund Revenue Budget for 2024/25 as set out in Appendix A to the report, subject to any changes required from the final Local Government Finance Settlement;

(ix)  Delegate authority to the Strategic Director, Resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Core Services, to make further changes to the 2024/25 budget proposals prior to the Assembly meeting up to a maximum amount of £1.0m or as determined by the final Local Government Finance Settlement;

(x)  Agree the new savings and growth proposals as set out in Appendix B to the report;

(xi)  Agree that the current budget gap of £8.809m shall be funded from use of reserves for 2024/25 and to note that additional permanent savings proposals shall need to be identified;

(xii)  Approve the latest General Fund Medium Term Financial Strategy 2024/25 to 2026/27 as set out in section 4 and Appendix A to the report;

(xiii)  Note that the proposals maintain a General Fund balance of £12m in line with the Council’s approved Reserves Policy (July 2023);

(xiv)  Note the projected reserve balances at 31 March 2025 following the planned use of £8.809m to achieve a balanced budget, as set out in Section 19 of the report;

(xv)  Approve the Council’s provisional Capital Programme, including Investment and Acquisition Strategy (IAS) schemes, for 2024/25 to 2026/27 as detailed in section 8 and Appendix G to the report;

(xvi)  Agree to set a Capital Budget for 2024/25 at £209.462m, as detailed in Appendix G to the report;

(xvii)  Approve the Strategy for the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts 2024/25 at Appendix I to the report, in line with the regulatory requirements to facilitate the delivery of efficiency savings including capitalisation of redundancy costs; and

(xviii)  Note the Chief Financial Officer’s Statutory Finance Report (Section 25 Statement) as set out in Appendix H to the report and, in particular, their determination of “the robustness of the estimates made for the purposes of the calculations, and the adequacy of the proposed financial reserves”.