Councillors and committees

Agenda item

2021/22 Final Budget and Medium- Term Financial Strategy to 2025/26

Decision:

RESOLVED:

 

That Cabinet makes the following recommendations to Council on 9 February 2020. 

 

Cabinet recommends that Council: 

  1. Approves the net revenue budget requirement be set at £1,003.6 million (net cost of services after service specific government grants) for 2021/22 (Annex B), subject to confirmation of the Final Local Government Financial Settlement;
  2. Approves the total Council Tax Funding Requirement be set at £777.9 million for 2021/22.  This is based on a council tax increase of 2.49%, made up of an increase in the level of core council tax of 1.99% to cover core Council services and an increase of 0.5% in the precept proposed by Central Government to cover the growing cost of Adult Social Care (Annex E);
  3. Notes that for the purpose of section 52ZB of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, the Council formally determines that the increase in core council tax is not such as to trigger a referendum (i.e. not greater than 2%);
  4. Sets the Surrey County Council precept for Band D Council Tax at £1,549.08, which represents a 2.49% uplift. This is a rise of £0.72 a week from the 2020/21 precept of £1,511.46. This includes £139.01 for the Adult Social Care precept, which has increased by £7.55. A full list of bands is as follows:

  1. Approves the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy for 2021/22 to meet the statutory guidelines for the use of such receipts to fund transformation (Annex F);
  2. Notes that underlying General Fund Balances are projected to remain at £24.2 million as at 1 April 2021;
  3. Approves the Total Schools Budget of £537.3 million to meet the Council’s statutory requirement on schools funding;
  4. Approves the overall indicative Budget Envelopes for Executive Directorates and individual services for the 2021/22 budget (Annex B);
  5. Approves the total £1,905.5 million proposed five-year Capital Programme (comprising £1,026.2m of budget and £879.2m pipeline) and approves the £184.9 million Capital Budget in 2021/22 (Annex C);
  6. Approves the Capital and Investment Strategy (Annex G), which provides an overview of how risks associated with capital expenditure, financing and treasury will be managed as well as how they contribute towards the delivery of services;
  7. Approves the policy for making a prudent level of revenue provision for the repayment of debt (the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy) (Annex I);
  8. Agrees the Council’s refreshed Transformation Programme (as set out in section 3 of 2021/22 Final Budget Report and Medium-Term Financial Strategy to 2025/26)
  9. Note that the investment in transformation required to deliver improved outcomes and financial benefits is built into the proposed Medium-Term Financial Strategy (as set out in section 3 of 2021/22 Final Budget Report and Medium-Term Financial Strategy to 2025/26) and;

Cabinet recommends that the Audit & Governance Committee approves the following:

  1. Treasury Management Strategy and Prudential Indicators (Annex H) which set a framework for the Council’s treasury function to manage risks, source borrowing and invest surplus cash.

Reason for Decision:

 

Council will meet on 9 February 2021 to agree a budget and to set the Council Tax Precept for 2021/22. Cabinet is required to recommend a budget to Council for consideration at this meeting. The budget directs available resources to support the achievement of the Council’s ambitions and priorities in the 2030 Vision and the Refreshed Organisation Strategy. The budget will also support the delivery of the continuing transformational changes that are required to ensure that the Council can improve priority outcomes for residents, while managing growing demand for services and ensuring future financial sustainability.

 

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

 

Minutes:

The report was introduced by the Cabinet Member for Resources whom explained that the production of the 2021/22 budget had been developed through an integrated approach across Strategy, Transformation and Finance, based around a set of Core Planning Assumptions which set out likely changes to the environment in which we delivered our priorities. The budget being presented reflected the successes of the major transformation programmes andefficiencies driven by the Council, which commenced over three years ago. The draft budget process began well before December 2020 with the draft budget presenting a gap of £18.3m. This gap had now closed with a balanced budget finalised and no use of reserves. The Cabinet Member detailed all the actions that had been taken to close this gap. Details were given of the ambitious capital expenditure programme of £1.9b over the period till 2026. The Cabinet Member detailed the key elements of the budget including how the budget had been prepared, the revenue budget, council tax precept, adult social precept, business rates, government grant funding, expenditure and budget reserves. The Cabinet Member stated that he was satisfied the budget was balanced, fair and deliverable.

 

The Deputy Cabinet Member for Resources updated the Cabinet on capital expenditure and financing elements of the budget. The total capital budget for the next five years totalled £1b for capital projects and £900m for pipeline projects, which are the schemes at an early stage of development. A detailed breakdown was given of the capital budget and the services that would be impacted. Details were also provided on the financing elements of the budget.

 

Each of the Cabinet Members then proceeded to highlight the positive areas of the budget which supported their specific services. The Cabinet Member for Resources, Executive Director for Resources and finance team were congratulated for the presentation of the budget. The Cabinet highlighted that the budget would allow the council to deliver on the community vision for Surrey.

 

The Cabinet for Resources paid a special thanks to Anna D’Alessandro, Rachel Wigley, Mark Hak-Sanders and Nikki O’Connor who had put in tremendous effort to producing the budget. Leigh Whitehouse, the Executive Director for Resources was thanked for his oversight and direction. The 14 recommendations in the report were unanimously agreed by Cabinet.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That Cabinet makes the following recommendations to Council on 9 February 2020. 

 

Cabinet recommends that Council: 

  1. Approves the net revenue budget requirement be set at £1,003.6 million (net cost of services after service specific government grants) for 2021/22 (Annex B), subject to confirmation of the Final Local Government Financial Settlement;
  2. Approves the total Council Tax Funding Requirement be set at £777.9 million for 2021/22.  This is based on a council tax increase of 2.49%, made up of an increase in the level of core council tax of 1.99% to cover core Council services and an increase of 0.5% in the precept proposed by Central Government to cover the growing cost of Adult Social Care (Annex E);
  3. Notes that for the purpose of section 52ZB of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, the Council formally determines that the increase in core council tax is not such as to trigger a referendum (i.e. not greater than 2%);
  4. Sets the Surrey County Council precept for Band D Council Tax at £1,549.08, which represents a 2.49% uplift. This is a rise of £0.72 a week from the 2020/21 precept of £1,511.46. This includes £139.01 for the Adult Social Care precept, which has increased by £7.55. A full list of bands is as follows:

  1. Approves the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy for 2021/22 to meet the statutory guidelines for the use of such receipts to fund transformation (Annex F);
  2. Notes that underlying General Fund Balances are projected to remain at £24.2 million as at 1 April 2021;
  3. Approves the Total Schools Budget of £537.3 million to meet the Council’s statutory requirement on schools funding;
  4. Approves the overall indicative Budget Envelopes for Executive Directorates and individual services for the 2021/22 budget (Annex B);
  5. Approves the total £1,905.5 million proposed five-year Capital Programme (comprising £1,026.2m of budget and £879.2m pipeline) and approves the £184.9 million Capital Budget in 2021/22 (Annex C);
  6. Approves the Capital and Investment Strategy (Annex G), which provides an overview of how risks associated with capital expenditure, financing and treasury will be managed as well as how they contribute towards the delivery of services;
  7. Approves the policy for making a prudent level of revenue provision for the repayment of debt (the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy) (Annex I);
  8. Agrees the Council’s refreshed Transformation Programme (as set out in section 3 of 2021/22 Final Budget Report and Medium-Term Financial Strategy to 2025/26)
  9. Note that the investment in transformation required to deliver improved outcomes and financial benefits is built into the proposed Medium-Term Financial Strategy (as set out in section 3 of 2021/22 Final Budget Report and Medium-Term Financial Strategy to 2025/26) and;

Cabinet recommends that the Audit & Governance Committee approves the following:

  1. Treasury Management Strategy and Prudential Indicators (Annex H) which set a framework for the Council’s treasury function to manage risks, source borrowing and invest surplus cash.

Reason for Decision:

 

Council will meet on 9 February 2021 to agree a budget and to set the Council Tax Precept for 2021/22. Cabinet is required to recommend a budget to Council for consideration at this meeting. The budget directs available resources to support the achievement of the Council’s ambitions and priorities in the 2030 Vision and the Refreshed Organisation Strategy. The budget will also support the delivery of the continuing transformational changes that are required to ensure that the Council can improve priority outcomes for residents, while managing growing demand for services and ensuring future financial sustainability.

 

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee]

 

Supporting documents: