Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Communities is attached.

Councillor Richard Gold, Cabinet Member for Finance and Communities, presented the report which contained details of the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) the plan will run to 2026/27 and will be refreshed as part of the annual budget setting process in February 2024.

The Cabinet Member reported that a mid-year review of the MTFP has been undertaken as a matter of good practice and consideration given to the pressures Bury Council is experiencing in the current financial year.

The review has indicated a provisional budget deficit of £41.582m over the next three years to 2026/27 before proposed savings. This provision budget gap is broken down across the three years as £22.611m in 2024/25; £12.789m in 2025/26 and £6.182m in 2026/27.

This report provides the detail of the updated MTFP forecast and sets out options to address this deficit.

Responding to a question from Councillor Bernstein, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Communities reported that the Financial Improvement Panel who have been providing assistance and support to the Council had recommended that Committee reports be presented in a more “user friendly” manner to enable Members to better scrutinise the financial information presented to them.  

Decision:

The Cabinet:

1. Approves the updated medium term financial plan and the assumptions regarding resources and spending requirements, as of November 2023. It should be noted that this information does not yet include the national Provisional Local Government settlement which is expected in December 2023.

2. Notes the projected medium term budget gap of £41.582m of which £22.611m is 2024/25, a further gap of £12.789m in 2025/26 and a further £6.182m in 2026/27.

3. Notes that there is still a remaining gap in the 2024/25 budget and that further work will continue to close this over the next two months, before the final budget proposals are made to Members in February 2024.

Reasons for the decision:

It is a legal requirement that all local authorities set a balanced budget before the start of each financial year. It is also a requirement to consult on service closures and changes and, in order to do this in advance of decisions being made, consideration needs to be given as to which of the savings proposals this affects

Early and iterative planning is essential for the Council to proactively respond to the financial challenge in future years.

Other options considered and rejected:

Officers and Members have undertaken significant work over the past six months to review all areas of potential savings and bring forward proposals which, insofar as is possible align with the Council’s strategic objectives as described in the LET’S Do It Strategy.