Issue - meetings

This report presents this Committee with the updated TMSS for 2025/26, subject to its scrutiny at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 20 January 2025, and subject to consultation with the lead Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services.

Ms Josephine Lyseight, AD Finance & Deputy Section 151 Officer, Mr Daniel Lynch, Senior Accountant (Pensions & Treasury) and Ms Taryn Eves, Director of Finance & Section 151 Officer, introduced the report.

The meeting heard:

·      A query was raised regarding the figure outlined on Table 3 on page 11 of the agenda papers which stated an estimate raise of new borrowing from 79.9 to 399.9. In response, the meeting heard that it was driven by the capital financing requirements which was driven by the capital programme. The figure of 79.9 was capturing the last quarter of the financial year whereas the 399.9 was for the whole of the following year. The figures were basically one quarter against a whole year. It was both for the general fund and for the HRA.

·      The increase of the new borrowing was to just to cover the capital expenditure that was projected for the coming years. The total was a cumulative total.

·      The Council had applied for exceptional financial support on 13 December 2024, the draft budget report was published for the upcoming Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The report showed that in order to set a balanced budget or to recommend a balanced budget for 2025/26, the exceptional financial support was estimated at £37 million. When the Treasury Management Strategy statement was published for the Audit Committee, the estimate that could be seen in the report was £20 million (in Table 1 of the report). As a local authority, the Council were not currently allowed to borrow or use capital receipts for revenue spend which was a day to-day running cost. The exceptional financial support would, if approved, at the end of February 2024, would give the Council a special permission called a capitalisation direction. The Council’s capital programme within the budget report included the figure of £37 million as exceptional financial support could be seen listed. This was not earmarked around particular services. The Council approached its budget by recognising all of the pressures it was facing particularly around social care, temporary accommodation and across every single service. It was important for the Council to set a budget that it felt was realistic. This would give the Council a budget gap position, then it would later identify any savings. The £37 million was similar to the Council identifying the budget gap that remained after the assumed savings. The figure was an outline of what the Council would need in order to deliver all of the services that it wanted to deliver in Haringey next year and still recognise all the spending pressures. The Council’s income was £37 million short from where it needed to be. The Council may be setting a budget at this stage with an assumed £37 million of exceptional financial support. This did not mean that it needed to use £37 million worth of support. The work that the Council would continue to do into next year would be to reduce the amount that needed to be drawn down. Any increased reliance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6