Agenda item

The Committee heard again from the Financial Services Manager who explained the report being presented detailed the draft controllable service budgets for 2026/27 for the Committee, and estimates for the following four years, as well as those recommended by the Prosperous Communities Committee in January. She explained that for services within the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee, the net base budget had decreased by £0.226m from 2025/26 to 2026/27. Details of the significant movements were provided at Appendix 3.

Members were advised that the main reasons for the net decrease included:

·         The actuarial review of the pension fund was completed in October and set the employer contribution amounts payable for the three years from 2026/27. The results had been favourable for the council in budgetary terms, which reflected the national position in relation to the local government pension scheme. For the Committee this had resulted in a reduction in salary costs of £577,000.

·         Contractual reviews of rental agreements for properties had resulted in an increase in income of £43,000,

·         These reductions were offset by an increase in salary costs, with the council assuming a pay award of 3% for 2026/27. For the Committee this increased the salary costs by £102,000.

·         Contractual Increases totalled £271,000 with the largest being insurance premiums at £73,000 due to changes in property values and increase in fleet numbers for the food waste collection service. Other contractual increases applied to audit services, legal services, and software development and licences.

·         There was an ongoing Housing benefits subsidy pressure of £87,000 mainly due to placements in unregistered supported accommodation as reported in the previous outturn report for the current financial year

·         There was an ongoing repairs and maintenance budget of £10,000 for the changing places facility as previously approved by Members

·         There were also inflationary increases applied across all services which totalled £30,300, against utilities, ongoing contracts, subscriptions and memberships where inflationary increases were included within the agreement.

Members were directed to appendix 7 which provided details of significant movements across both committees.

Furthermore, the Financial Services Manager explained that the final finance settlement had been announced earlier in the week, and had included an increase to the Homelessness grant. The amount relating to this grant included at appendix 7 had increased by £52,800 to £615,200. There was no impact on the bottom line for the MTFP as the corresponding income had been increased within the funding section of the MTFP.

Following the confirmation of the three year settlement from Government, Officers were able to report that the proposed service budgets contained within the report contributed towards a balanced budget for 2026/27. Members were asked to recommend the budgets for both committees to Full Council for inclusion in the medium term financial plan.

Members of the Committee expressed their thanks to the Finance Team for their commendable work, acknowledging the amount of effort required to achieve a balanced budget, calling it a remarkable achievement.

With no further comments or questions, and having been proposed and seconded, the Chairman took the vote and it was unanimously

            RESOLVED that

a)    the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee budget 2026/2027 be accepted and RECOMMENDED to Full Council for inclusion in the overall Council budget 2026/2027; and

b)    the Prosperous Communities Committee Budget 2026/2027 be accepted and RECOMMENDED to Full Council for inclusion in the overall Council budget for 2026/2027; and

c)    any minor changes be delegated to the Chief Finance Officer in consultation with the Chairman of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee; and

d)    the 2027/2028 to 2030/2031 estimates for both this Committee and those of Prosperous Communities Committee be RECOMMENDED to Full Council for inclusion in the Medium Term Financial Plan 2026/2027 to 2030/2031 (as amended by any decisions taken on this agenda).