Issue - meetings

To set out for Cabinet’s consideration and recommendation to Council the proposed 2025/26 budget and council tax based on.

·     Increasing council tax by 4.99% in 2025/26 in line with the government’s annual referendum threshold which can be broken down into a 2.99% basic increase and a 2% uplift by way of the Adult Social Care (ASC) precept.

·     Implementation of the approved financial strategy.

·     Implementation of £7.8m of further savings, efficiencies, and additional income generation required to set a legally balanced budget and support the basis of a more financially sustainable council moving forward.

·     Borrowing to fund the Special Educational Needs and Disability services revenue expenditure above the level of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) High Needs grant. It will also be considered with government if it would be prudent to obtain a capitalisation direction associated with the 2024/25 and 2025/26 interest costs on the accumulated DSG deficit.

·     Recognise that the government must come up with a permanent solution to return the SEND system both locally and nationally to financial sustainability.

·     Recognition that the council is technically insolvent from the 1 April 2025 onwards as the accumulated deficit on the DSG will be greater than the total reserves held by the council, with a negative overall general fund position and is only protected by the statutory override.

This report also provides the latest Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) covering the 3-year period to 31 March 2028.

This agenda item was dealt with jointly with the preceding item.