Agenda item

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

Councillor Thorpe introduced the report highlighting that the 2026/27 Final Budget Report presented to Budget Council on 25 February 2026 set out the Council’s budget requirement for the 2026/27 financial year and provided details on the Council’s reserves position. This report presents an updated budget position for 2027/28, comprising a refreshed budget assumptions and funding movements and a draft revenue savings.

Councillor Thorpe confirmed that the proposed review of the youth service and participation has now been removed from the consultation.

Councillor Rydeheard  confirmed there were lots of pre submitted questions from members and a useful discussion was held at Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  

Councillor Rydeheard queried the 75k saving in waste collection and highlighted he is dealing with missed bins in his ward and asked what more detail can be provided and clarity that this proposal won’t impact residents any further.

Councillor Thorpe advised the savings are being achieved you the rationalisation of the service to make it more efficient.

Councillor Smith confirmed we are not proposing to remove any waste collection rounds but acknowledged that there are problems in certain areas that need to be reviewed. 

Councillor Rydeheard advised members had discussed the garden waste charge at Overview and Scrutiny and the possibility this could lead to a net loss and queried whether there were any plans to try to forecast what that is likely to be and whether we could map the impact this could have?

Councillor Thorpe advised that at Overview and Scrutiny they discussed the potential impacts of implementing this policy which could have a detrimental impact on delivering this policy.  There is a plausibility that it doesn’t work however, work to date shows that we would be able to deliver this effectively as have several other councils in Greater Manchester.

Councillor L Smith advised that there is some risks but we are going to be mitigating them really well. As part of the improvement programme, there will be a waste strategy and this policy would sit within this. 

Councillor Vernon queried the response he received when he asked a question about the green waste levy several years ago and what has changed since then.

Councillor Thorpe highlighted that circumstances change over time and that this is being included within a wider waste strategy to help meet our 2035 targets.

Councillor O’Brien advised that there is a lot more genuine uncertainty on the impact this would have several years ago.  Lots of authorities across the country do this already and Stockport and Trafford have now since implemented it.  We can now say with greater certainty what impacts implementing this policy will have. The financial position is very challenging so proposals that we may not have considered in the past need to be looked at now.

Councillor Birchmoer felt there was some information around costings that was missing from the proposals and would like this information to be brought back to Overview and Scrutiny to enable them to review the proposals properly.

Councillor Thorpe responded that these proposals have been brought forward earlier than normally happens and so the detail is being worked on and will be presented with the final budget proposals. 

Councillor Rydeheard highlighted that other authorities deal with garden waste in different ways and whether we were planning on consulting on the method of implementation.

Councillor L Smith confirmed that the consultation would include the method for implementing this policy.

Decision(s)

Cabinet

1.    Approved the updated Medium-Term Financial Strategy to 2029/30, including the underlying assumptions regarding resources and spending requirements. 

2.    Approved the Draft 2027/28 Revenue Budget and Medium-Term Financial Strategy position as set out within this report, including the forecast remaining budget gap of £9.585m for 2027/28 and cumulative gap of £17.508m by 2029/30, as the basis for consultation and further budget development.

3.    Approved the total budget assumptions of £29.945m in 2027/28.

4.    Approved the new saving proposals totalling £17.451m over the period 2027/28 to 2029/30, including £10.747m in 2027/28, £2.686m of which are subject to the outcome of the public budget consultation of which £1.070m relates to 2027/28.

5.    Noted the total savings programme of £27.251m over the period of 2027/28 to 2029/30, including £17.560m in 2027/28.

6.    Approved public consultation on the draft budget assumptions and new savings requiring a policy decision between 19th October to 30th November 2026. 

7.    Noted that the outcomes of the budget consultation will be reported back to Members and used to inform the final budget setting proposals and referred to Overview & Scrutiny Committee for their consideration.

8.    Noted the draft proposal to increase Council Tax by 4.99% in 2027/28 and the remaining years of the MTFS 2028/30 (comprising 2.99% general increase and 2.0% adult social care precept) in line with the current referendum limits.

9.    Noted the progress to date in relation to the voluntary exit scheme. 

10.Noted the workforce savings, which is primarily the product of funding optimisation, vacancy deletion and organisational redesign and does not represent a change in policy. The intention is to bring forward further proposals to increase the overall workforce-related contributions (including the progression of the voluntary exit scheme).

11.Noted the recurring savings and exit costs resulting from workforce reductions will be included in the Final Budget Report and reported to Cabinet and Council in February 2027. 

12.Approved the use of flexible capital receipts or capitalisation direction in the form of borrowing to fund eligible severance and transformation costs arising from the delivery of the budget strategy and associated workforce proposals in accordance with the statutory guidance issued by MHCLG with the final allocation to be determined by the Director of Finance. 

13.Approved the assumptions relating to sales, fees and charges included with the draft budget and note that detailed schedules will be presented as part of the Final Budget Report.

14.Noted the forecast reserves balance for 2027/28 and limited capacity of reserves to support future budget gaps.

15.Noted the Section 151 Officer’s assessment of the Council’s financial position and the reasons why exploration of Exceptional Financial Support is considered necessary;

16.Authorised the Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Chief Executive, Monitoring Officer and the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services to explore Exceptional Financial Support with MHCLG, conduct negotiations, provide financial assurance and finalise and submit the application to cover any remaining funding gap in advance of final budget setting.

Reasons for decision(s)

·         The Council has a legal requirement annually to set a balanced budget and Council Tax and where necessary undertake consultation with the public, businesses, stakeholders and internally with staff and through Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

·         To update members on the Councils budgetary position and set out the work plan to reduce the forecast budget gap ahead of Budget Council on 24th February 2027.

Alternative options considered and rejected

·         The current assumption within the MTFS is for an on-going 4.99% annual Council Tax increase (2.99% general precept and 2% adult social care precept) which is built into the core spending power assumptions within the 2026/27 to 2028/29 Local Government Finance Settlement. 

·         An alternative option could be made to increase its ‘relevant basic amount of council tax’ above the levels that will be set out in the Local Government Finance Settlement, but this would require holding a local referendum and a majority vote.

·         A 1% increase or decrease in Council Tax is equivalent to c£1.311m of additional funding.