Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Finance. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation.

Following public consultation and Scrutiny Review, this report will set out the details of the proposed budget for 2022/23 and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) through to 2026/27, including savings, growth and capital proposals. The report will also set out details of funding for 2022/23 and, if available, the remainder of the planning period and highlight areas of risk. The report will be for onward approval by Full Council on the 01 of March when it will include the details of the council tax resolution.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation introduced the report, which finalised the Council’s General Fund and HRA 2022/23 Budgets and Medium-Term Financial Strategies for 2022-2027.

It was noted that the only items not confirmed at this stage were:

• Notification of final levy sums however, the Council were not forecasting any levies to be significantly different to the sums currently budgeted for;
• Confirmation of the GLA council tax element;
• The implications of the Final 2020/21 Local Government Finance Settlement announcement and any other late notifications from government departments –there were no indications that this would bring forward any / material changes to the provisional figures already received.

The report outlined that these final notifications were not expected to lead to any significant budget implications, but an update would be included in the Full Council report on 1st March; this would also include details of any final budget adjustments required.

The Cabinet Member advised that the budget was well received and the consultation dialogue had been genuinely constructive with no hidden issues.

There was praise for the Finance Team and other officers for compiling the report and producing good budget proposals. The Cabinet Member continued that this was the first budget that balanced without savings and allowed for substantial levels of investment in revenue and capital whilst maintaining a fiduciary approach.

The Cabinet Member continued to refer to alignment of the budget to the administration’s future manifesto and political priorities. This included:

• increase in council housing,
• helping the most vulnerable,
• support to the social care budget which in the past had been chronically underfunded,
• maintained commitment to the green agenda,
• support to parks, active travel,
• investment in preventing antisocial behaviour,
• significant increase in budget allocation for the prevention of violence against women and young girls , and
• investment in public participation, co- design and co-production.

The Cabinet Member also highlighted the following:

• A Council Tax rise by 1.99% for the general Council services, plus a further 1% social care precept, which added up to a total of 2.99%, (i.e. lower than the anticipated rate of inflation). In practice, this would mean that the increase for a Band D property (excluding the GLA element) would be 83 pence per household per week,
• Continuing with a comprehensive Council Tax Reduction Scheme which meant that over 16,000 residents would pay no Council Tax at all;
• Recognition that even this modest council-tax increase, at this challenging time, would be an additional ask for some. However, it was felt that without these resources, the Council would have to cut back support and services for the most vulnerable in the borough and therefore felt appropriate to put forward.

In conclusion, the Cabinet Member was proud to recommend this budget for Cabinet and onward full Council approval.

Councillor Pippa Connor, Vice Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Chair of the budget scrutiny meetings presented the Overview and Scrutiny recommendations set out at appendix 9 of the report.

She thanked Finance officers and scrutiny officers for facilitating  ...  view the full minutes text for item 732