Agenda item
Medium Term Financial Strategy 2022/23
- Meeting of Cabinet, Thursday 17 February 2022 9.30 am (Item CAB-135)
- View the background to item CAB-135
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance and Customer Services presented the report of the Director: Finance & H.R. (Chief Financial Officer).
The report being presented was broadly the same as that presented at the 6 January 2022 meeting with the addition of an updated risk register, details of the Council’s tax reduction policy, pay policy, and efficiency strategy. It was accompanied by previously agreed strategies with updated budgets and schemes of work; these included the capital strategy that set out the long-term context of decision-making, supported by detailed programme reports covering building investment and highway and transport programmes. The final part of the report included a prudential indicator report together.
Members’ attention was drawn to Appendix 17. The document was a variation to the West Mercia Energy Joint Agreement that would provide more equitable distribution of surpluses. This would have a minimal impact on the Council.
Members welcomed the report and thanked staff for their hard work. The Council continued to invest in the Borough and strived to improve the lives of residents at what was a challenging time for many across the country,
The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group welcomed the report and stated his Group’s support for the budget. Support was noted in particular for NuPlace and the Borough’s growth fund.
The Leader of the Conservative Group stated concern at the level of the Council’s debt. In response, the Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance and Customer Services stated that there were a number of documents in the report that advised on this matter, such as the prudential indicators report. The Council’s borrowing had been sensible and prudent.
RESOLVED – that Cabinet
Approve the following recommendations for consideration by full Council on 3 March 2022:-
1. To
approve the MTFS for 2022/23 – 2025/26 and the budget
framework for 2022/23 set out in this suite of reports.
2. To
approve a 2 year freeze of the general Council Tax level.
3. To apply
the Government’s 1% Adult Social Care Precept in
2022/23.
4. To
approve the investment of a further £5.16m into Adult Social
Care in 2022/23 rising to £6.96m in 2023/24.
5. To
approve net investment of £1.31m in to Children’s
Safeguarding in 2022/23.
6. To
approve the budget savings listed in Appendix 13 totalling
£5.656m in 2022/23 rising to £8.34m (after
“leakage”) in 2023/24.
7. To
approve the continuation of work with partner organisations,
including Town & Parish Councils and Voluntary Sector and
Community Groups to seek to identify ways to mitigate the impact of
some of the cuts to services that we can no longer afford and to
note the availability of the Invest to Save/Capacity Fund which is
available to support partnership working.
8. To
approve the base budget in Appendix 6.
9. To approve the use of £0.220m special fund balances for works at Castle Green Cemetery
10. To
approve the use of £250k from the Invest to Save/Capacity
Fund to support the development of
“shovel-ready” schemes to maximise the Council’s
ability to receive funding from national
challenge funding opportunities.
11. To
approve the policy framework for Reserves and Balances and
their planned use outlined in Appendix 9.
12. To note the
CFO’s robustness statement in Appendix 10.
13. To approve the Risk
Register included at Appendix 3.
14. That
Cabinet endorses the Council Tax Reduction Scheme a link to which
is included within Appendix 14, for adoption by Full Council on 3
March 2022, ready for implementation from 1 April 2022.
15. That Cabinet approves the continuation of a Council Tax Reduction Hardship Assistance Policy within Appendix 14.
16. To approve the revenue implications of the medium term capital programme for the period 2021/22 - 2025/26 set out in the Capital Strategy and Programme reports also on this agenda.
17. To approve a delegation to the Chief Executive, after consultation with the Leader, to allocate the Capital Investment Fund to individual schemes and to incur associated expenditure.
18. To grant delegated authority to the Director: Finance & Human Resources, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance and Customer Service to action any virements required following the final allocation of the Dedicated Schools Grant and other Grants and following completion of NNDR1 and final estimates of Business Rates Income as long as they are within the budget and policy framework.
19. To grant delegated authority to the Executive Director: Adults Social Care, Health Integration & wellbeing after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, Integration and Transformation, to enter into appropriate Section 256 and Section 75 Agreements under the NHS Act 2006 (as amended).
20. To authorise the Associate Director: Policy & Governance to execute all necessary contract documentation including the affixing of the common seal of the council as appropriate to enable the council to enter into appropriate Section 256 and Section 75 Agreements under the NHS Act 2006.
21. To approve this suite of MTFS reports as the Council’s Efficiency Strategy for 2022/23, including the document at Appendix 16, to enable new capital receipts generated in the three year period starting 1 April 2022 to be used to fund the revenue costs of reform as assumed throughout these reports.
22. To note the initial projections for the potential budget gap through to 2025/26 and to start work in order to identify options for how this could potentially be bridged.
23. To approve that once all final outstanding grant allocations are received, authority to amend the use of balances in 2022/23 to accommodate any difference in funding between that currently assumed and the final grant allocations be delegated to the Director: Finance & H.R. after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance & Customer Services.
24. To approve the Pay Policy for 2022/23 included as Appendix 15
25. To approve the proposals for a revised formulae for the distribution to member authorities of any accumulated surplus of the WME Joint Committee set out in Appendix 17.
26. Delegation of authority to the Director: Finance & HR after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance & Customer Service, to make changes to the Service & Financial Planning Strategy with immediate effect to reflect all grants received from Government, including that in respect of the “£150 council tax energy rebate for properties in council tax bands A to D”, and any associated spend.
27. To approve the additional recommendations contained in the other reports included in this suite of Medium Term Financial Strategy reports included on this agenda.
Supporting documents:
- Medium Term Financial Strategy 2022, item CAB-135 PDF 377 KB
- MTFS REPORT CABINET February 2022, item CAB-135 PDF 1 MB
- Appendix 1 Council Tax Graph - Midland Band D, item CAB-135 PDF 630 KB
- Appendix 2 Council Tax Graph - Unitary Band D, item CAB-135 PDF 753 KB
- Appendix 3 - Strategic Risk Register, item CAB-135 PDF 673 KB
- APPENDIX 4 -Savings Delivered to Date, item CAB-135 PDF 135 KB
- Appendix 5 - Financing Costs to Net Revenue Stream, item CAB-135 PDF 343 KB
- Appendix 6 - Base Budget 2022 23, item CAB-135 PDF 151 KB
- Appendix 7 - Analysis of Base Budget Movements, item CAB-135 PDF 17 KB
- Appendix 8 - Education 106 Agremments, item CAB-135 PDF 39 KB
- Appendix 9 - Reserves and Provisions, item CAB-135 PDF 12 KB
- Appendix 9 - Reserves and Provisions - details, item CAB-135 PDF 365 KB
- Appendix 10 - CFOs Robustness Statement 2022 23, item CAB-135 PDF 566 KB
- Appendix 11 - Safeguarding cost improvement plan, item CAB-135 PDF 261 KB
- Appendix 12 - ASC Cost Improvement Strategy, item CAB-135 PDF 296 KB
- Appendix 13 - Savings List, item CAB-135 PDF 110 KB
- Appendix 14 - Council Tax Reduction and Hardship Assistance Policies (Effective from April 2022) with 2022-23 Addendum, item CAB-135 PDF 335 KB
- Appendix 15 - Pay Policy Statement 2022 2023, item CAB-135 PDF 477 KB
- Appendix 16 - Efficiency Strategy, item CAB-135 PDF 608 KB
- Appendix 17 - WME Joint Arrangement, item CAB-135 PDF 266 KB
- Capital_strategy 2022 ~ 2033, item CAB-135 PDF 1 MB
- Capital Programme 22.23, item CAB-135 PDF 613 KB
- Capital Programme 22.23 Annex I A Capital Programme Summary, item CAB-135 PDF 194 KB
- Capital Programme 22.23 Annex I B Capital Programme Detail, item CAB-135 PDF 213 KB
- Capital Programme 22.23 Annex II Planned Building Maintenance Programme 2022 23, item CAB-135 PDF 292 KB
- Capital Programme 22-23 Annex III Highways Transport Plan 2022 23, item CAB-135 PDF 278 KB
- INVEST STRATEGY 2022 ~ 2023, item CAB-135 PDF 508 KB
- TM STRATEGY 2223, item CAB-135 PDF 1 MB
- Prudential indicators 2223, item CAB-135 PDF 306 KB