Issue - meetings

To consider a report (which includes a confidential appendix) by Councillor Gwyneth Ellis, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)      note the budgets set for 2024/25 and progress against the agreed strategy;

(b)      approve the Council Tax Base for setting the 2025/26 budget as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report;

(c)      approve the use of the capital contingency to fund the overspend on the Lôn Parcwr scheme as detailed in Section 6.8 to the report, and

(d)      approve the Ysgol y Castell business case for submission to the Welsh Government Capital Programme as detailed in Section 6.9 and Appendix 5 to the report.

In the absence of Councillor Gwyneth Ellis, the Head of Finance and Audit presented the monthly report detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy together with further recommended approvals.

A summary of the Council’s financial position was provided as follows –

·       the net revenue budget for 2024/25 was £271.021m (£250.793m in 2023/24)

·       an underspend of £4.285m was forecast for service and corporate budgets

·       current risks and assumptions relating to corporate budgets and service areas

·       savings and efficiencies for the 2024/25 budget (£10.384m) and progress in delivering savings approved with ongoing tracking/monitoring

·       an update on Schools, Housing Revenue Account and Treasury Management.

Cabinet was also asked to approve the Council Tax base for setting the 2025/26 budget; the use of capital contingency to fund the overspend on the Lôn Parcwr Scheme, and the capital business case relating to Ysgol y Castell, Rhuddlan which had been attached as a confidential appendix.  Cabinet was asked to move into private session if they wished to discuss the confidential element of the report.

The Head of Finance and Audit guided members through the detail of the report.  There was a forecasted underspend on service and corporate budgets of £4.285m compared to an underspend of £479k last month.  The significant positive movement had been due to Welsh Government awarding additional in-year funding to support pay pressures and teachers’ pension costs.  Services as a whole continued to overspend in areas including Education and Children’s Services, Highways and Environmental Services, and to a lesser extent Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services.  There was an underspend in Adult Social Care and Homelessness similar to that reported over recent months. High risk areas including School Transport were highlighted.  The areas of service overspend had been more than offset by the underspend on corporate budgets due to the release of contingency budgets and grant funding award from Welsh Government.  Careful consideration would need to be given to the level of underspend and its future use.  Details on the Housing Revenue Account and schools’ position had also been included in the report.

The Leader and Chief Executive referred to the positive impact on the budget position as a result of the in-year consequentials following the UK Government Budget in October and Welsh Government’s allocation of additional grant funding together with the recently announced local government provisional settlement for 2025/26.  A Members Budget Briefing had been arranged for the following day to provide an update to all councillors on the detail of the Welsh Government’s provisional settlement with a full update on the position to be presented to Cabinet in January.  The Head of Finance and Audit advised that whilst the provisional settlement was better than expected the additional funding would not cover all of the budgetary pressures for the next financial year and savings would still be required together with an increase in Council Tax in order to achieve a balanced budget for 2025/26.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)      note the budgets set for 2024/25 and progress against the agreed strategy;

(b)      approve the Council Tax Base for setting the 2025/26 budget as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report;

(c)      approve the use of the capital contingency to fund the overspend on the Lôn Parcwr scheme as detailed in Section 6.8 to the report, and

(d)      approve the Ysgol y Castell business case for submission to the Welsh Government Capital Programme as detailed in Section 6.9 and Appendix 5 to the report.