Issue - meetings

Further to Minute 17 (17 July 2018), the Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services presented a report on the Budget Strategy for 2019/20 to 2020/21 and an update on the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).

The Cabinet Member explained that the Council had achieved over £122m of savings since the Government embarked on its austerity programme in 2010 and the Council’s current MTFS, which covered the four-year period 2017/18 to 2020/21, had identified further savings of circa £58m.   As a consequence of the Council’s financial planning, no new savings proposals were necessary for 2019/20 and the predicted budget gap of £570,000 could be met by a drawdown from the 2018/19 Council Tax Collection Fund surplus.  The Cabinet Member also referred to the Council’s ambitious Transformation Programme and the need to allow the new arrangements to bed-in before assessing how future years’ savings could be achieved.  With that in mind, it was noted that the development of a new MTFS for the period up to 2023/24 would commence in the New Year.

With regard to the plans for the 2019/20 budget, the Cabinet Member confirmed that a 1.99% Council Tax increase would be proposed.  The public consultation on the Council’s plans would also include the option of an additional 1% levy specifically for services for children and young adults with disabilities, to help mitigate the pressures on those services as a result of Government underfunding.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note that no new savings proposals are being brought forward for 2019/20 and the Council remains committed to delivering the savings proposed in the Medium Term Financial Strategy reports approved by the Assembly in February 2017 and 2018;

(ii)  Support the drawdown of £0.570m from Collection Fund surpluses in order for the Council to set a balanced budget for 2019/20, which shall be reflected in the Council’s statutory budget setting report in February 2018;

(iii)  Agree the proposed consultation process for the 2019/20 budget proposals, as set out in section 6 of the report;

(iv)  Agree to consult on the levying of a local 1% “Social Care Precept” to support the Borough’s most vulnerable residents; and

(v)  Note the proposals for the development of a new MTFS for the period 2020/21 to 2023/24.