Cabinet

1. Noted the requirements of Section 106 of the LGA 1992 Act as set out in Section 1 of this report

2. Noted the Medium Term Financial Position and the Budget setting process of the Council as set out in Section 3 of this report

3. Noted the key assumptions and risks to the 2025/26 budget as set out in Appendix A of this report

4. Noted the provisional local government finance settlement outcome as set out in Appendix B of this report;

5. Agreed the savings proposals as set out in Sections 3.15 and Appendix C of this report and of this report.

6. Agreed the proposed Fees and Charges schedule as set out in paragraph 3.16 and Appendix D and for officers to proceed with implementation of the proposed fees and charges, subject to consultation where required.

7. Agreed the proposed 2.99% increase in core Council Tax for 2025/26 as set out in paragraph 3.18;

8. Agreed the proposed additional 2% Council tax increase for the Adult Social Care Precept as set out in paragraph 3.18;

9. Agreed the proposed Council Band D basic amount of Council Tax for 2025/26 of £1823.17 being the amount calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its council tax excluding the GLA precept for the year (as set out in section 3.17 of this report

10. Agreed the proposed Council Tax requirement for 2025/26 to be set at £164.361m as set out Appendix E of the report

11. Agreed the budgets proposed in this report and as set out in Appendix F

12. Noted the outcomes from the Public Consultation response as set out in Appendix G (to follow)

13. Noted the Schools budget and DSG as set out in Section 6 of this report which is presented as a separate paper to this cabinet but is an integral part of the budget process

14. Noted the S25 Statement of Robustness as set out in Appendix H of this report.

15. Agreed the Council Tax Support Scheme for 2025/26 as set out in Appendix I to this report (unchanged from 2024/25).

16. Agreed Council Tax discounts for early payment to be given at a rate of 1.5% as set out in Appendix J of this report.

17. Agreed to direct officers to disregard War Pension income in the assessment of Housing Benefit as detailed in see Section 11 and Appendix J and authorises the Chief Executive to approve any policy required to effect the same.

18. Noted the Equalities Impact Assessment in respect of the Council Tax Support Scheme as set out in Appendix K to this report and the overall Equalities impact assessment for the Council report set out in Appendix L

19. Noted that in the event the Capitalisation Direction is not awarded to the value requested before the emergency Full Council meeting on the 5th March, the

Strategic Director of Resources (S151 Officer) will  ...  view the full decision text for item 52

Report: 2025/26 Budget and 2025-2029 Medium Term Financial Strategy

Presented by: Councillor Chris Wilkins, Cabinet Member for Finance

Summary: (Overview & Scrutiny comments noted, at end of this summary)

This report consisted of the following listed sections:

Introduction (Section 1)

Background and Strategic Context (Section 2)

The budget process and Medium  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52