Agenda item

To seek Cabinet’s approval of:

·      the latest financial forecast / budget proposals and council tax amount for 2024/25 for recommending to Full Council; and

·      a delegation to the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance to agree the detailed budget proposals and formal draft resolutions / ‘technical’ appendices required for Full Council on 13 February 2024.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    approves the updated financial forecast, as set out in Appendix A to item A.4 of the report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder, along with the savings and cost pressures set out in Appendices B and C respectively that form the firm proposals for the 2024/25 budget and recommends to Full Council a Band D Council Tax for district services of £193.73 for 2024/25 (a £2.99% increase), along with the associated council tax requirement of £10.048m.

(b)    authorises the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance, to agree the ‘technical’ appendices and resolutions for the budget proposals for recommending to Full Council on 13 February 2024;

(c)    authorises the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder, to report directly to Council in respect of the formal resolutions necessary to implement the Executive’s budget proposals including any further amendments emerging from additional information becoming available and/or notifications received from the Government; and

(d)  authorises the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance, to agree / adopt a Retail, Hospitality and Leisure mandatory business rate relief scheme for 2024/25.

Cabinet considered a report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder (A.4), which sought its approval of:

·      the latest financial forecast / budget proposals and council tax amount for 2024/25 for recommending to Full Council; and

·      a delegation to the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance to agree the detailed budget proposals and formal draft resolutions / ‘technical’ appendices required for Full Council on 13 February 2024.

It was reported that, since the Cabinet’s last meeting on 15 December 2023, additional changes had been required, primarily as a result of new or revised information becoming available which included the Government’s Financial Settlement announcements. The changes required had resulted in a reduced deficit for 2024/25 of £1.715m, a change of £0.960m compared to the £2.674m deficit presented to Cabinet in December. Appendix A to the Portfolio Holder’s report,along with comments set out later on in that report, provided further details across the various lines of the forecast, with the most significant change being the receipt of the revenue support grant and other associated funding from the Government.

The most up to date savings schedule and cost pressure summary were set out in Appendices B and C respectively to the Portfolio Holder’s report.

Cabinet was advised that in order to enable the detailed estimates along with the various resolutions / ‘technical’ appendices required for Full Council’s meeting in February 2024 to be finalised, a delegation to the Portfolio Holder for Corportae Finance and Governance had been included within the Portfolio Holder’s recommendations. A further delegation had also been included in order to enable a business rate relief policy, associated with the continuation of a mandatory Government relief scheme in 2024/25, to be finalised in advance of bills being printed and sent out before the start of the 2024/25 financial year.

Members were reminded that the budget position set out in the report would change as further adjustments were required as part of finalising the budget for presenting to Council on 13 February 2024, with a further delegation included in the Portfolio Holder’s recommendations to reflect this.

Cabinet was informed that, based on the final proposed budget for 2024/25, the Council Tax requirement was £10.048m,which was based on a 2.99% (£5.62) increase for this Council’s services, with an annual Band D council tax of £193.73.Those figures would remain unchanged and therefore would be reflected in the various budget resolutions / ‘technical’ appendices proposed to be delegated to the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance.

The Council’s annual budget and the district and parish elements of the council tax would be considered by Full Council on 13 February 2024 with approval of the ‘full’ council tax levy for the year being considered by the Human Resources and Council Tax Committee later on in February 2024.

Members were reminded that, as set out in earlier reports, despite the challenging financial and economic environment, confidence in the long term approach to the forecast remained, which was supported by the Forecast Risk Fund. The Council had maintained a prudent and sustainable approach to its long term plan, which provided the ‘platform’ against which it could continue to consider its financial position in response to the very challenging economic outlook it faced.

As highlighted in the Cabinet’s December 2023 report, both Appendix B and Appendix C included related in-year adjustments for 2023/24. Those would be subject to further review before being finalised for inclusion in the Quarter 3 Financial Performance Report that would be presented to Cabinet later on in the 2023/24 financial year.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor M E Stephenson) read out the following statement:-

“The forecast has been subject to further updates since Cabinet in December, which are set out in the report. Just before Christmas we received the provisional draft Local Government Finance Settlement, which included over £1m of additional funding for us. A note of caution is that we cannot take this for granted and it is unlikely that will continue for any meaningful length of time. In following on from previous commitments, the budget now also reflects a percentage increase in the LCTS grant paid to Town and Parish Councils – the increase reflects our own revenue support grant increase.

As we set out in the report in December, work remained on-going in terms of potential further cost pressures. An additional £229k of cost pressures have been included in the budget following this review. This includes making money available to support the Clacton Air Show, which hopefully everyone is pleased to see us continue. There are a few budget adjustments that remain outstanding that will be finalised in readiness for reporting to Full Council on 13 February.

In terms of the Full Council meeting in February, we will be recommending a Band D Council Tax amount of £193.73 in 2024/25, a 2.99% increase or just over 50p a day, which I am sure we all agree continues to represent excellent value for money for our residents.

As set out in the report, we face many more cost pressures which I will be looking at with my Portfolio Holders and Officers over the coming weeks and separate decisions will be made as necessary.

Some of you will have heard me say that we have delivered a balanced budget but not a fully funded budget. This will be the case until we identify the necessary savings to enable us to move away from reliance on the Forecast Risk Fund. In terms of savings, I know that Members are keen to see what we are planning. As you know, we are committed to openness and transparency and we will share options and plans as soon as we can.

The additional Government funding in 2024/25 has provided additional flexibility as it has reduced the call on the Forecast Risk Fund in 2024/25, but we acknowledge that we need to use the time and this flexibility wisely and make sure we get ahead of the savings targets as soon as we can. We can’t shy away from the challenge ahead and the support and input from all Members will be important to deliver a financial sustainable future for the Council.

The Chief Executive and I did provide a response to the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement. We asked the Government for extra cash and increased flexibilities, with the latter point also picking up a discussion we had at the recent RSO&S Committee about lobbying Government whenever we can – for example when it comes to setting our fees and charges.

We will also provide a copy of our response to our local MPs. I note recent headlines in the press about a number of Conservative MPs demanding extra funding for Councils. Hopefully, together we can extract some additional cash out of the Government, but I somehow doubt we will get any more than they have already announced.”

The Chief Executive also updated the Cabinet in that it now appeared that the Government would potentially require some of the additional funding to be performance related. Therefore, Tendring District Council would have to make a judgement as to whether the income from the additional funding outweighed the cost of administration et cetera. He also confirmed that both of the District’s MPs had been briefed on the Council’s budget position and on the finance submission to the Government by the District Councils’ Network.

In order to allow the Cabinet’s General Fund budget and Council Tax proposals for 2024/25 to be submitted to the budget and council tax setting meeting of the Full Council on 13 February 2024:-

It was moved by Councillor M E Stephenson, seconded by Councillor Placey and:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    approves the updated financial forecast, as set out in Appendix A to item A.4 of the report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder, along with the savings and cost pressures set out in Appendices B and C respectively that form the firm proposals for the 2024/25 budget and recommends to Full Council a Band D Council Tax for district services of £193.73 for 2024/25 (a £2.99% increase), along with the associated council tax requirement of £10.048m.

(b)    authorises the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance, to agree the ‘technical’ appendices and resolutions for the budget proposals for recommending to Full Council on 13 February 2024;

(c)    authorises the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder, to report directly to Council in respect of the formal resolutions necessary to implement the Executive’s budget proposals including any further amendments emerging from additional information becoming available and/or notifications received from the Government; and

(d)  authorises the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance, to agree / adopt a Retail, Hospitality and Leisure mandatory business rate relief scheme for 2024/25.