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Consideration was given to a report on the Medium Term Financial
Plan Update and Strategy.
This was the final report in setting the Council’s 2025/26
Budget and Council Tax and outlining the Medium Term Financial Plan
(MTFP) position to 2028. The report also included an update on the
financial performance for 2024/25.
The
report outlined the budget for 2025/26 and indicative MTFP for
future years. The provisional finance settlement was received on
18th December 2024, and this indicated the funding for 2025/26,
with the final allocations to be confirmed in February. In order to
prepare a Medium Term Financial Plan, assumptions had been made in
respect of future years, however, this funding was extremely
uncertain and subject to future Government spending
reviews.
The
Provisional Financial Settlement had provided funding allocations
for 2025/26 only. The Government had indicated that there would be
reforms to Local Government Finance from 2026/27 onwards and would
take forward the fair funding review, also considering the reset of
Business Rates. Government had indicated there would be a
multi-year settlement from 2026/27 onwards.
The
MTFP report for 2025/26 to 2027/28 was attached to the
report.
The
report also provided an update on the financial position for
2024/25. As reported previously, inflationary pressures were having
a significant impact upon the financial position in 2024/25. The
Council continued to see increased costs in maintaining vital
services.
The
Report outlined the Council Tax proposals and Budget for 2025/26
and the indicative MTFP for the next two years.
It
provides an update on the position from that reported to Cabinet
and Council in February 2024 and reflected implications arising
from the Local Government Finance Settlement for
2025/26.
The
Provisional Financial Settlement had provided funding allocations
for 2025/26 only. The Government had indicated that there would be
reforms to Local Government Finance from 2026/27 onwards and would
take forward the fair funding review, also considering the reset of
Business Rates. Government had indicated there would be a
multi-year settlement from 2026/27 onwards, therefore the funding
shown in 2026/27 onwards in the MTFP was subject to
change.
The
Council had a long history of providing value for money and
delivering strong financial management. This had again been
reinforced by the External Auditor in the Independent Auditors
Annual Report on the 2022/23 accounts, which was issued in May
2024. The auditors had issued an unqualified audit opinion on the
2022/23 financial statements and did not identify any significant
weaknesses or recommendations in relation to value for money
arrangements.
Section 25 of the Local Government Finance Act 2003 required
that when a local authority was agreeing its annual budget and
setting its Council Tax, the Chief Finance Officer (Section 151
Officer) must report to it on the following matters:
• The
robustness of the estimates made for the purposes of the Council
Tax requirement calculations
• ...
view the full decision text for item 4.
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