Decision Maker: Cabinet, Assembly
Decision status: Recommendations approved
Is Key decision?: Yes
Is subject to call in?: No
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”.
Report author: Jo Moore
Publication date: 20/02/2024
Date of decision: 19/02/2024
Decided at meeting: 19/02/2024 - Cabinet
Accompanying Documents: