Agenda item

To receive the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2026/27 to 2029/30.

The Cabinet Member: Finance, Governance and Customer Services presented the report of the Director: Finance, People & IDT, which provided an update on the medium-term financial strategy, which gave an update on the key uncertainties, financial pressures and increased demand for some services. 

A consultation would take place during the period 7 January 2026 and 3 February 2026 with key stakeholders, including the voluntary and community sectors, Town and Parish Councils, businesses, and the Council’s cross-party Business and Finance Scrutiny Committee, as well as through the issuing of media releases and seeking views from residents through the Council’s website.

The proposals demonstrated that despite £195m in cuts to the Council by previous governments, the Administration’s commitment to protect, care and invest to create a better borough had remained. 

The Administration’s promise to do that was always underpinned by three core principles.  Firstly, the Council would maintain one of the lowest Council Taxes in the West Midlands and nationally and would ensure that any increases directly supported those most in need of the Council’s services.  Secondly, the Council was committed to maintaining an efficient Council, using only the necessary buildings and employing a streamlined workforce dedicated to providing the highest possible service for all of the borough’s residents.  Thirdly, the Council consistently sought to generate income from sources other than Council Tax and business rates and that this approach had helped the Council weather the financial cuts imposed by the Conservative government whilst also allowing the Council to protect the services that mattered the most to its residents, protecting every library and leisure centre, the ice rink and theatre, but has also allowed the Council to attract new businesses and jobs and build new homes for residents.

The Council had and would continue to put Telford and Wrekin residents first, the basic premise of which had and always would be to safeguard essential care and invest confidently in Telford and Wrekin's future.

Throughout the country, adult social care demand and costs had surged, and Telford and Wrekin was no different.  Next year, around £97m would go towards adult social care, and over £52m would be dedicated to children safeguarding, which added up to almost £150m or the equivalent of 70% of the Council’s net budget, directed at supporting the borough’s most vulnerable residents.

Every pound from the proposed Council Tax increase would be invested in social care services and this reflected a conscious commitment to fairness, dignity and compassion.  To sustain this commitment, an average increase of £1.20 per week for a Band B home was proposed, which was made up of 72p general and 48p adult social care precept.

Despite this, Council Tax would remain the lowest in the Midlands for the services Council provided, with Band D Council Tax around 19% lower than the Midlands average and £649.21 per year less than the highest midland authority.  Behind every statistic was a person, a neighbour needing home care, a family in crisis or an older person seeking support to live independently.  The investments the Council made translated directly into outcomes and the investment package outlined today was the equivalent to more than 585,000 home care hours or over 60,000 two-pound bus fare rides, easing everyday pressures for residents and carers alike.

The Council’s £437m Capital Programme was a practical expression of the Administration’s promise to deliver safer streets, green neighbourhoods, thriving towns, and opportunities for all.  For homes and regeneration, over £88m for New Place and Telford and Wrekin homes, which would deliver high quality, affordable, and specialist housing.

Councillor Hannington said that, since 2015, the Council’s New Place Portfolio had regenerated 47 acres of brownfield land and generated £17.8m in income for frontline services. For jobs and growth, she said that more than £59m growth fund initiatives had been recently exemplified by the provision of 24 new industrial units and 75 jobs at Orchard Business Park at Hortonwood, which met clear gaps in the commercial market and supported local prosperity. In respect of transport and highways, she said that over £103m for highways and transport.

The Council’s “Find It, Fix It” queries had contributed to a 15% reduction in potholes over the last four years and the borough’s roads conditions were above the regional average, which reflected targeted investment proactive maintenance.

£41m in school expansion and education capital projects had ensured more local places and improved facilities for children and young people.

Telford and Wrekin was unique in that it had rebuilt almost its entire secondary school estate, and it had continually kept pace with the demand for school places. £16.3m was in place for leisure and cultural schemes, which included the new Captain Webb Swimming and Fitness Centre and the refurbishment of Town Park Amphitheatre.  Over £56m was secured through the local regeneration fund, towns fund in Oakengates and Wellington plus levelling-up for Station Quarter in the theatre brought visible change to the borough’s centres.  There was community investment of over £22m in the Pride in Place Programme with £20m secured for South Telford, and the Council was adding £10m to extend benefits across Woodside, Brookside and Sutton Hill to tackle inequalities with a decade-long, community-led approach.

The Council’s track record mattered and had delivered a balanced budget for over 15 years, which had achieved £195.3m in savings, while still investing in what residents valued.  The Council would save a further £19.1m from 2026. The local government settlement increased the Council’s spending power by 8.8% in 2026-2027, with over £6m additional general funding and further ring fence grants for areas like homelessness and children's services.

The Cabinet Member thanked the borough’s MP, Shaun Davies, and the Leader of the Council for their work to secure a fairer funding settlement from the Government with updated formulas for need, multi-year certainty and simplified grants, something the Council had long waited for.

The Council continued to manage risks prudently and its budget strategy reserve remained at £21.7m and general balances at £4.4m.  Everything in this report provided opportunities for all residents to have well-delivered public services, protection of the local environment and responsible financial management, which would keep tax low in challenging years, and to protect libraries and leisure, investing in roads and schools and to fight for better local health services.

The Council had kept its promises, had made every pound count and would continue to do so. The consultation would run from 7 January to 3 February with the Council’s Business and Finance Scrutiny Committee meeting three times in January.

In conclusion, the Cabinet Member said that final decisions would be taken at full Council on 26 February 2026, and asked that colleagues, partners and residents engaged to bring forward ideas that strengthened care, sharpened efficiency and widened opportunity in order that the Council could refine this budget and the future of the borough together.  It protected, cared and invested in residents’ future, was fair, resilient and ambitious and the Council wanted everyone in the borough to live well, feel safe and share in the benefits of growth.

RESOLVED, that:

(a)           The proposed revised Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), as set out in this report (and available for consultation between 7 January 2026 and 3 February 2026), which included a council tax increase for 2026/27 equivalent to £0.72 per week general council tax increase for the average (Band B) property and £0.48 per week for the Adult Social Care precept, and which would be fully invested in the provision of social care services for the most vulnerable members of the borough’s community to deliver the Council’s vision to protect, care and invest to create a better borough, be approved.

(b)          The following, be noted:

a.    The Council’s priorities to deliver its vision:

• Every child, young person and adult lived well in their community.
• Everyone felt the benefit from a thriving economy.
• All neighbourhoods were a great place to live.
• The natural environment be protected, and the Council was taking a leading role in addressing the climate emergency.
• Telford and Wrekin was a community focussed innovative Council which provided efficient, effective and quality services.

b.    The continued strong track record of sound financial management of the Council, which included delivery of a balanced budget for over 17 years.

c.    That 70p in every £1 the Council spent was allocated to Social Services.

d.    The net investment of £15.8m into Adult Social Care, £2.7m into Children’s Social Care and the investment into the Capital Programme, which totalled £437m over the period.

The cumulative net investment into Social Care Services since 2020/21 was over £67m.

e.    That a number of the investments made in this report also generated a financial benefit, as well as fulfilling their primary purpose, which was invested in front line services.

This was equivalent to provision of over 585,000 home care hours or over six million £2 bus fare rides.

f.      The savings of £195.3m delivered since 2009/10 as a result of reduced government funding from 2011, whilst the cost and demand for many Council services had been increasing and, in particular, for Adult Social Care.

g.    The changes to the Local Government Finance Settlement, which were welcomed by the Council, with the implementation of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 for 2026/27, including a multi-year settlement and an updated formula incorporating updated data for deprivation and population, which would better reflect needs.

h.    The changes to the Business Rates System, effective from 1st April 2026, which introduced three new multipliers as well as a reset of the system and a revaluation.

i.      National and international economic pressures, which had resulted in a challenging financial outlook with interest rates and inflation remaining higher than Bank of England forecasts.