Issue - meetings

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Bryning)

Report of Head of Resources

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Bryning)

Cabinet received a report from the Head of Resources which provided an update on the Council’s financial position to help inform development of Cabinet’s budget proposals.  Given that the Local Government settlement had not yet been received, the report was primarily for information, rather than seeking any specific decisions.

The options, options analysis, including risk assessment and officer preferred option, were set out in the report as follows:

GENERAL FUND REVENUE BUDGET – CURRENT YEAR

An in-depth analysis of all current year budgets had been undertaken and a summary of the budget and variance analysis was attached at Appendix A to the report.   There was still time for the revised budget position to change further over the coming weeks and therefore Cabinet was simply requested to note the overall position at this stage. In terms of earmarked reserves and provisions, a full review had not yet been completed.  This would be undertaken in time to report to January’s Cabinet meeting. 

2013/14 DRAFT REVENUE BUDGET

The first draft of the 2013/14 budget had been produced, in accordance with Financial Regulations and the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).  Further information would be provided for the January meeting.   Currently the draft budget for 2013/14 stood at £20.196M, as shown in Appendix A to the report, which also showed the provisional variance analysis undertaken so far.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE SETTLEMENT

The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement was not expected to be announced until later this month and therefore the impact would be reported formally into January’s Cabinet meeting.  The MTFS approved in February assumed that Government support would reduce by 2% in 2013/14 (over 4% in real terms) compared with 2012/13, and 0% (about 2% in real terms) the year after. 

COUNCIL TAX

In addition to the change in the referendum trigger threshold being reduced to 2%, the Government had also announced proposals for a continuation of the Council Tax Freeze Grant.  Under this proposal, the Council would receive the equivalent of a 1% tax rise (£84K) for 2013/14 and 2014/15, should it choose to freeze or reduce council tax for 2013/14.  Take up of this arrangement was voluntary.

SAVINGS REQUIREMENTS: SCENARIOS

At this stage it was impossible to give any reasonably accurate picture of what the Council would need to save next year to continue with existing services, depending on its council tax targets.  This was mainly because of the uncertainties over Government funding and other legislative changes.  Some scenarios were set out in the report. 

RE-DIRECTION OF RESOURCES (SAVINGS & GROWTH OPTIONS)

The Council’s financial prospects could change significantly as a result of the Government funding settlement.  In view of this position, Cabinet was advised once again to focus its attention on identifying and prioritising areas for making recurring savings and this linked to the Corporate Priorities report elsewhere on the agenda.  It was reiterated that without such an approach, Cabinet ran the risk of:

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