Issue - meetings

Report of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation is attached.

It was moved by Councillor Thorpe and seconded by Councillor O’Brien and on being put, with 48 Members voting for, the Mayor abstaining; that, Council, approves:

· Agree the deletions of the following posts within the schools finance team through accepting voluntary early retirement applications, support the payment of voluntary early retirement and capital costs associated

· Schools finance officer proposed end date 31 October 2025.

· Senior schools finance officer proposed end date 30 June 2026

Report of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation is attached.

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Growth presented a report proposing to phase down the schools finance team through accepting voluntary early retirement applications and to incorporate the statutory/residual work into the Children’s and Young People Finance Team, owing to the reduction in workload and loss of SLA income following academy conversions.

Decision:

Cabinet agreed the deletions of the following posts within the schools finance team through accepting voluntary early retirement applications, and supported the payment of voluntary early retirement and capital costs associated and commend this proposal to Council for their agreement:

·       Schools finance officer proposed end date 31 October 2025.

·       Senior schools finance officer proposed end date 30 June 2026.

Reasons for the decision:

The proposed phase down approach of reducing the schools finance team is to ensure that the forecast schools buy back SLA income covers the cost of providing the service to maintained schools.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

None.