Issue - meetings

Report of the Corporate Director of Finance and Resources (S151 Officer). To be presented by the Cabinet Member for Finance & Corporate Services.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST MADE FOR THIS ITEM:

None

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1.    Noted the content of the Section 25 Statement provided by the Corporate Director for Finance and Resources (Appendix 11).

2.    Considered the outcome of the budget consultation to be included in the report to Council (Appendix 3).

3.    Noted the content of the Cumulative Equality Impact Assessment for 2026/27 (Appendix 5).

4.    Approved the responses made to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommendations following their consideration of the draft budget proposals (Appendix 4).

5.    Proposed approval to the Council of the 2026/27 Budget and MTFS 2026/31 Budget, new budget requirements and savings proposals (Appendices 1 and 2 a–f).

6.    Proposed approval to the Council of the 2026/27 General Fund Revenue Budget as set out in Appendix 1, including specifically a General Fund budget requirement of £343.4m, but subject to final decisions of the levying and precepting bodies and the final local government finance Settlement.

7.    Proposed approval to the Council of the General Fund Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2026/2031 (Appendix 1).

8.    Proposed approval to the Council that the overall Haringey element of Council Tax set by the London Borough of Haringey for 2026/27 would be £1,803.26 per Band D property, representing a 2.99% increase on the 2025/26 Haringey element and with an additional 2% for the Adult Social Care Precept amount.

9.    Noted the Council Tax Base of the London Borough of Haringey, as agreed by the Section 151 Officer under delegated authority (Article 4.01(b), Part 2, of the Constitution), as 80,924 for the financial year 2026/27 (Appendix 6).

10. Proposed approval to the Council of the General Fund Capital Programme 2026/27 to 2030/31 (Appendix 7).

11. Proposed approval to the Council of the strategy on the use of flexible capital receipts to facilitate the delivery of efficiency savings, including utilisation for redundancy costs (Appendix 8).

12. Noted the Capitalisation Policy (Appendix 9).

13. Noted the Treasury Management Strategy Statement for 2026/27 for approval by Council (Appendix 10).

14. Proposed approval to the Council of the 2026/27 Minimum Revenue Provision policy (Appendix 10, Annex C).

15. Proposed to the Council the Dedicated Schools Budget (DSB) allocations for 2026/27 of £149.8m as set out in Table 16 and paragraph 14.2.

16. Noted the funding distributed to primary and secondary schools for 2026/27 based on the figures advised to Schools Forum and submitted to the Department for Education (DfE) in January 2026, as set out in Section 14.

17. Noted the budgets (including the use of brought forward DSG) for the Schools Block, Central Services Block, High Needs Block and Early Years Block, as set out in Table 16.

18. Delegated to the Director of Children’s Services, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families, authority to amend the Delegated Schools Budget to take account of any changes to Haringey’s total schools funding allocation by the DfE.

19. Delegated to the Section 151 Officer, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services,  ...  view the full decision text for item 399

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services introduced the report.

The Cabinet Member explained that the budget proposed in the report represented a high level of investment in Haringey. It allocated £343.4m to providing services that residents used and relied on, and to maintaining public spaces and communities to be clean and safe. The Council aimed to create a borough where everyone could belong and thrive, and, despite financial pressures, it directed resources to areas identified as priorities.

It was noted that the budget included:

• £222.9m for adults’ and children’s social care, supporting residents who required assistance.
• £42.9m for preventing and addressing homelessness, including ending the use of B&Bs as temporary accommodation for families.
• £4.7m for the maintenance of parks and green spaces (revenue and capital).
• £2.3m for libraries.
• £34.4m to support lower?income residents with council tax costs.
• £283m for building new council homes and £93m for renovating existing council homes and estates.
• £37.8m for recycling and waste services.
• £16.1m for concessionary fares.
  
  

The Cabinet Member stressed that these decisions resulted from financial constraints and the need to prioritise. Due to reduced government funding over several years, in 2025/26 the council operated with approximately £143m less in real terms in core funding than in 2010/11, a 55% reduction. At the same time, demand for local services increased, and inflation raised the cost of providing them. Haringey Council had been under?resourced relative to the needs of its communities. Historically, it had 15% less to spend per resident than neighbouring boroughs, despite higher levels of deprivation in some groups. The government’s decision to amend the funding formula to account for deprivation, including housing costs, resulted in Haringey receiving an additional £18.4m over three years, with £9.5m allocated in 2026/27.

It was noted that, although this additional funding was welcomed by the Council, it did not fully address the cumulative financial pressures. Despite ongoing efficiency measures, spending reductions and increased income, the council anticipated continued reliance on Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) to balance the budget in 2026/27 and in the medium term. EFS was borrowing permitted by government to fill the funding gap and would need to be repaid with interest.

It was explained that the draft budget for 2026/27 included £23.2m in savings proposals, consisting of £14.9m previously approved and £8.3m in new proposals, some of which had been subject to consultation with residents and businesses. The council intended to focus on achieving these savings, alongside delivering £30m of savings in the 2025/26 budget, to reduce the need for Exceptional Financial Support. Despite the financial challenges, the budget reflected the council’s priorities, including maintaining core public services and investing in local parks, leisure centres and libraries. Although significant work remained, the Council aimed to improve local public services and infrastructure and move away from the prolonged period of financial constraint that had affected service provision.

Councillor Connor provided the Cabinet an outline of the scrutiny recommendations to Cabinet on the budget:

• That Scrutiny had noted concerns regarding the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 399