The Cabinet was presented with a report which provided information on the current financial challenges facing the Council, particularly in relation to the General Fund Budget. The report set out the Council’s fiscal journey since 2020, the actions already taken to respond to the increasingly challenging financial position and those planned under the Balancing the Budget programme.

As previously reported, the Director (Corporate Services) advised that Local Government had been subject to a sustained period of financial uncertainty over the last fourteen years.

In February 2020, the Council was able to set a balanced budget for the forthcoming year, with financial projections at that time indicating that the Council would not be required to make any additional savings across the medium-term financial planning period to 2028-29. Planned expenditure for the period was able to be met from anticipated income or usable working balances. In the four years since February 2020, the financial landscape had significantly altered mainly due to issues outside of the Council’s control such as the pandemic, rising demand for Council services and economic factors. In February 2022, the Council found itself in a position where it was required to undertake a proactive programme of activity to manage its budget position via the’ Balancing the Budget programme’. Since this time the Council had seen budget pressures of some £7m, had proactively delivered base budget reductions of £3.3m and was operating with a financial budget of an equivalent value to the budget set by the Council in 2010/11.

The Budget Setting report presented to Full Council in February 2024 presented a stark outlook with the need to deliver a further £3.7m of base budget reductions, through either additional income or expenditure savings, to manage the Council’s ongoing financial position and maintain financial sustainability beyond the 2024/25 financial year. The urgency around action to deliver the Balancing the Budget Initiatives had required a renewed focus from both Officers and Members. Work between the Administration and Management Team had resulted in the Council now being in a position where it had identified activity totalling £3.9m to deliver the Balancing the Budget Programme. The report detailed the proposed plan.

The Cabinet welcomed the report as it sets out how the Council had and will be making savings to respond to the budget deficit all of which had been reported in an open and transparent way as listed within the background documents of the report.

In relation to future savings, the Cabinet would be working closely with Officers to deliver those savings. A significant issue the Council was currently facing was the delay of some of its key projects; this was due to the impact not only on the capital budget but also the revenue/cash flow of the authority. One of those key projects being Cascade Leisure Centre; the delay was due to the change in interest rates, material prices, build-out values and the impact of the Lower Thames Crossing however, those projects that had been delayed, would be progressed at an appropriate time.

As detailed within the report, the Cabinet highlighted that if the Council’s settlement had increased by inflation alone then the Council would have an additional £10 million per year to spend. The Council had continued to receive flat cash from 2010 meaning that the same budget over the last fourteen years was still being used to deliver an increased level of services/pressures. The Cabinet stated that Members do not wish to make cuts and/or reduce services etc., however, they had a legal obligation to respond to the Council’s challenging financial position even though some of those challenges were external pressures which were outside of the Council’s Control.

The Leader stated that there was a combination of two areas being explored in order to achieve the savings required. Firstly, the Council will look at the administrative areas of each service area to see if any savings and/or income streams can be achieved without significantly changing the service delivery. Secondly, the Council will look at savings and/or income streams beyond that and if a change in service delivery was required then those proposals would be presented to the Cabinet for consideration. The Cabinet thanked those Members and Officers that had contributed to date in suggesting areas of savings and/or income streams in order to assist with the budget deficit.