Issue - meetings

To consider and make recommendations to Cabinet on the draft budget 2026/27 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2026/2031.

This item will be considered in two parts:

a)    To consider the proposals presented in the report and appendices that relate specifically to the remit of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

b)    To consider the overall approach to the Council’s draft Budget and MTFS report, including the measures being taken to address the budget gap.

Cllr Pippa Connor chaired the discussion on this item which was in two parts:

a) To consider the proposals presented in the report and appendices that related specifically to the remit of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

b) To consider the overall approach to the Council’s draft Budget and MTFS report, including the measures being taken to address the budget gap.

Participants for this item were:

Cllr Dana Carlin (Cabinet Member for Finance & Corporate Services)

Cllr Ruth Gordon (Cabinet Member for Placemaking & Local Economy)

Cllr Seema Chandwani (Cabinet Member for Resident Services & Tackling Inequality)

Taryn Eves (Corporate Director of Finance & Resources) (S151 Officer)

Josephine Lyseight (Director of Finance) (Deputy S151 Officer)

John O’Keefe (Head of Finance - Capital, Place, & Economy)

Barry Francis (Corporate Director of Environment & Resident Experience)

Kari Manovitch (Delivery Director – Tackling Inequality)

Greg Osborne (Head of Revenue, Benefits & Tackling Inequality)

Jess Crowe (Corporate Director of Culture, Strategy & Communities)

PART A of this item involved the scrutiny of individual proposals in appendices 3 to 6 of the Directorate Appendices on pages 105 to 117 of the agenda pack.

PART A – DIRECTORATE APPENDICES

Appendix 3 - Environment & Resident Experience

BUDGET PRESSURE - Increase in Bad Debt Provision against shortfall in court cost recovery

Barry Francis, Corporate Director of Environment & Resident Experience, explained that this was a historic and ongoing pressure involving the cost of taking cases to court that were not recovered by fees or by being awarded by the court to the Council. Consideration was being given to altering the level of fees and charges in order to offset this as a pressure, but this had not yet been agreed. It was established that further details of fees and charges would be published in the agenda papers for the meeting of the Cabinet taking place on 9^th December.

Cllr Carlin, Cabinet Member for Finance & Corporate Services, highlighted that the Council would engage with people who had fallen behind on their Council Tax payments because of financial difficulties rather than triggering court proceedings at an early stage. The Council also had the discretion not to charge court costs in order to avoid exacerbating their financial situation, which meant that full cost recovery was not always made. In future, cost recovery would include evidencing the full costs to the Council, including administrative costs.

The Committee noted that full details of the fees and charges were not yet available and so this may need to be considered at the Committee’s budget meeting in January. However, the Committee emphasised the importance of maintaining an approach that would not worsen the circumstances of residents experiencing financial difficulties. (ACTION)

BUDGET PRESSURE - Ongoing pressures relating to Housing Benefit overpayments

Greg Osborne, Head of Revenue, Benefits & Tackling Inequality, explained that Housing Benefits was a difficult area to administer and that a rise in costs had been seen with supported exempt accommodation in recent years. This often came with increased service charges and was only partially subsidised rather than fully subsidised. He said that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54