Decision Details

On 14 February 2023, Cabinet:-

(i)       Agreed to recommend the attached draft Financial Plan for consideration by the City Council on 28 February 2023, which lays out a net revenue budget of £925.1m and a capital budget of £1.6bn;

(ii)       Agreed the level of risk and budget assumptions set out in the Section 25 Statement from the Chief Finance Officer as detailed in Chapters 6 of the draft Financial Plan, as these underpin the revenue and capital budget decisions and planning assumptions;

(iii)      Noted that Corporate Directors will continue developing transformative budget proposals and will be focussing on shaping further proposals to mitigate risk over the 10-year financial plan and provide financial sustainability for the Council;

(iv)      Delegated authority to the Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance, to make any amendments or corrections to the draft Financial Plan 2023 - 2026 as detailed in section 3.3 of the report;

(v)      Delegated authority to the Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, to use the General Policy Contingency Budget for those matters which may require an urgent response, subject to compliance with procurement rules. Any delegated decision will be reported through the normal procedures as set out in the Constitution;

(vi)      Recommended to Council the application of additional premiums for empty and second homes to come into effect from 1 April 2024;

(vii)     Recommended to Council to reinstate the use of Enforcement Agents for the collection of council tax support related debt; for the Revenues Service to work with our Enforcement Agents and develop an approach to improve debt collection, whilst recognising that additional support will be needed for people in the current cost of living crisis;

(viii)    Noted that the Final Settlement has a positive impact on the Council’s resources;

(ix)      Noted that the Council will receive an extra £0.573m in Service Grant compared to the figure in the draft Financial Plan;

(x)       Noted that the Council will receive a one-off amount of £3.004m in 2023/24.  This is because he Government has a surplus in the national levy account because of increased growth in business rates income.  They will distribute £100m of he national surplus on a one-off basis based on each Local Authority’s 2013/14 Settlement Funding Assessment;

(xi)      Noted that the Council is recommending a four-year balanced budget for 23/24 to 27/28, therefore the additional funding which has been announced for the Council is a surplus above the already balanced position; and

(xii)     Approved for the draft Financial Plan 2023 – 2026 to be amended to contribute the extra £3.577m to the Financial Resilience Reserve.  This will provide further resilience at this time of economic uncertainty.