Issue - meetings

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Report FSD24014

A key part of the financial strategy was to highlight the budget issues that would need to be addressed by the Council over the coming financial years, by forecasting the level of available resources from all sources and budget pressures relating to revenue spending. This was reported to previous meeting of Executive. Details of the capital programme were reported elsewhere on this agenda.

The Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2024/25 only covered 2024/25, with no indication of future years funding. The settlement included continuation of the ASC precept, increase in new homes bonus, increase of repurposed social care funding (children’s and adults) and market sustainability improvement fund (adult social care). However, there were significant reductions in the Services Grant.

There remained uncertainty around the level of Government funding for 2025/26 and beyond, particularly as the Government would need to address the significant increase in public debt due to the pandemic. The longer-term Spending Review together with the awaited Fair Funding Review and Devolution of Business Rates (or any revised funding proposals) was not expected until 2026/27 but could be delayed even further.

This report identified the final issues affecting the 2024/25 revenue budget and sought recommendations to the Council on the level of the Bromley element of the 2024/25 Council Tax and Adult Social Care precept.

Confirmation of the final GLA precept would be reported to the Council meeting on 26^th February 2024. The report also sought final approval of the ‘schools budget’. The approach reflected in this report was for the Council to not only achieve a legal and financially balanced budget in 2024/25 but to have measures in place to deal with the medium-term financial position (2025/26 to 2027/28).

Following the Government reductions in funding since austerity measures began there have been some recent improvements in funding. However, the burden of financing increasing service demands falls primarily on the level of council tax and share of business rate income. The financial forecast assumes that the level of core grant funding will remain unchanged, in real terms, from 2025/26.

The report had been scrutinised by the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee at its meeting on 5 February 2024 and the Committee had supported the recommendations.

RESOLVED That:

1.  Council be recommended to:

(a)  Note the following recent changes including the outcome of the Final Local Government Settlement 2024/25 announced by DLUHC on 6^th February:

i)  additional Services Grant funding of £24k;

ii)  final allocation of Public Health Grant which represents a 2.1% increase in funding (£64k); and

iii)  one-off funding of £411k in 2023/24 only, mainly relating to the government’s business rates safety net and levy account.

(b)  Approve the schools’ budget of £116.453m which matches the estimated level of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) after academy recoupment;

(c)  Approve the draft revenue budgets (as detailed in the revised Appendix 2) for 2024/25;

(d)  Agree that Chief Officers identify alternative savings/mitigation within their departmental budgets where it is not possible to realise any savings/mitigation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 124