Issue - meetings

Cabinet received a report setting out the draft 3-year revenue budget and 4-year capital programme for Buckinghamshire Council.  This included updates on the latest estimated funding position, service budget pressures and the key financial risks facing the Council in the future.

The Council Tax Resolution report would be presented as a separate report as part of the final budget in February 2022 and would contain the final information from the other precepting authorities leading to the total Council Tax for the area, which full Council was required to approve.  The Cabinet report did not include special expenses.  Discussions were ongoing to agree special expenses budgets for 2022/23, and these would also be presented alongside the final budget.

RESOLVED –

(1)               That the draft revenue budget and capital programme for 2022/23 (Appendices 1-3) be approved.

(2)               That the outcome of the budget consultation (Appendix 4) be noted.

(3)               That the proposal to seek delegation from Council to Cabinet for up to £100m of new capital schemes to be added to the capital programme, through Prudential Borrowing, and where robust financial business cases have been made, be supported.

(4)               That it be noted that a supplementary report, the formal Council Tax Resolution, will accompany the final budget submitted to full Council.

(5)               That the current risks associated with the draft budget proposals be noted.

Cabinet received a report setting out the draft 3-year revenue budget (2022/23 to 2024/25) and 4-year capital programme for Buckinghamshire Council.  Local Government funding remained very uncertain in the medium term due to proposed changes to the Local Government funding regime and the implementation of key Government policies in regard to Adult Social Care reform and the ‘Levelling Up’ agenda.  The Spending Review had laid out the Government’s funding totals and priorities for the period 2022/23 to 2024/25.  However, actual allocations to individual authorities, through the Provisional Local Government Settlement, only covered 2022/23.

Changes to the revenue budget were largely focussed around changes in service demand and income (both service and corporate), the wider economic impacts of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and the recognition of the ongoing risks relating to the pandemic and the wider Local Government funding regime.

The Leader introduced the report and stated that significant uncertainty remained over the future course of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the potential impacts of the current Omicron variant, and potential new variants currently unknown. Further lockdowns and national or local restrictions would impact both on the day to day operation of the Council, the duration of the pandemic and potentially the scale and pace of the recovery of local, national and global economic activity. The draft budget might be subject to significant change before the final budget was presented to Cabinet and full Council as the consequences of the Omicron variant become more apparent over the coming weeks and months.

The draft budget proposed had been built on the proposed Council Tax base and assumed a 1.99% increase in basic Council Tax and a 2% increase for the Adult Social Care Precept (including 1% carried forward from 2021/22), giving a total increase of 3.99%.  The draft budget included the one-off use of £1.36m of General Fund balances to produce a balanced budget and mitigate risks in 2023/24.

The Capital programme covered 4 years as many schemes span across multiple financial years.  The Council currently had borrowing headroom of £100m whereby schemes that were brought forward with a robust and financially viable business case could be added to the Capital Programmes subject to Cabinet approval.

The Cabinet report explained the significant impacts that the global impact had on the operations of the Council during 2021/22, including significant decreases in service income levels whilst expenditure pressures, especially in Care Services, had been increasing at unprecedented rates. The draft budget reflected the latest estimates for the ongoing impacts of Covid-19 and the future recovery on income streams and normalisation of demand growth for critical front-line services which the post-Covid ‘new normal’ would bring.

At the end of quarter 1 of 2021/22 most direct Government grant support to the Council for the ongoing impacts of the pandemic had ceased. However, this situation was subject to change as the Government’s response to the ongoing pandemic developed and changed, as evidenced by the announcement of additional Business Grants to support sectors adversely affected at the current  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9