Agenda item

The Council has a statutory duty to set a balanced budget in advance of each financial year.  The Final Budget for 2024/25 will be presented to Full Council on 6 February 2024. Cabinet is required to recommend a budget to Council for consideration at this meeting.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Resources and Performance Select Committee)

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet makes the following recommendations to Council on 6 February 2024.

Cabinet recommends that Council:

1. Approves the net revenue budget requirement be set at £1,197.1 million (net cost of services after service specific government grants) for 2024/25 (Annex B), subject to confirmation of the Final Local Government Financial Settlement.
2. Approves the total Council Tax Funding Requirement be set at £914.9 million for 2024/25. This is based on a council tax increase of 4.99%, made up of an increase in the level of core council tax of 2.99% and an increase of 2% 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 3%).
4. Sets the Surrey County Council precept for Band D Council Tax at £1,758.60, which represents a 4.99% uplift. This is a rise of £1.61 a week from the 2023/24 precept of £1,675.08. This includes £251.44 for the Adult Social Care precept, which has increased by £33.50. A full list of bands is as follows:

5. Approves the use of £5m of earmarked reserves, to enable additional targeted preventative and early intervention investment in the event that the Final Local Government Finance Settlement does not provide any additional funding to that contained in the provisional settlement (paragraph 6).
6. Notes that underlying General Fund Balances are projected to remain at £49 million as of 1 April 2024.
7. Approves the Total Schools Budget of £656.7 million to meet the Council’s statutory requirement on schools funding (as set out in Section 9 of the 2024/25 Final Budget and Medium-Term Financial Strategy to 2028/29).
8. Approves the overall indicative Budget Envelopes for Directorates and individual services for the 2024/25 budget (Annex B).
9. Approves the total £1,902.4 million proposed five-year Capital Programme (comprising £1,291.3 million of budget and £611.1 million pipeline) and approves the £404.9 million Capital Budget in 2024/25 (Annex C).
10. Approves the Capital and Investment Strategy (Annex F - Sections 1 to 3), 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.
11. Approves the policy for making a prudent level of revenue provision for the repayment of debt - the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy (Annex G).
12. Notes 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 2024/25 Final Budget Report and Medium-Term Financial Strategy to 2028/29).

13.Cabinet notes that the Audit & Governance Committee has approved the following at its meeting on the 17th January 2024: Treasury Management Strategy and Prudential Indicators (Annex F – Section 4) which set a framework for the Council’s treasury function to manage risks, source borrowing and invest surplus cash.

Reasons for Decisions:

Council will meet on 6 February 2024 to agree a budget and to set the Council Tax Precept for 2024/25. 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 report was introduced by the Leader who explained that a draft budget had come to Cabinet in November and would be taken to Full Council on 6 February for approval. At the November meeting a budget gap of £13.5m had been identified, the final budget contained within the Cabinet report addressed this gap. The final budget would assume an increase in the level of core council tax of 2.99% and an increase of 2% in the precept proposed by Central Government to cover the growing cost of Adult Social Care. The increase in council tax would put the council in a robust financial position. A final settlement from Government would be announced on 5 February which indicated an increase of funding by £600m, £500m of this would be ringfenced for adult social care. The lobbying by the council to government had been effective and acted on. The Leader gave special thanks to the Prime Minister, Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove. The Leader reiterated the need for reform to funding in Local Government and highlighted the services where there were pressures including home to school transport.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources welcomed the final budget, thanking the Leader for his lobbying of government. Officers were also thanked for helping develop the final budget. Additional funding from government would help the council to support vulnerable residents and invest for the future. Cabinet Members welcomed additional funding from the government especially for children and adults services. The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Customer and Communities welcomed the £40m being made available for Your Fund Surrey from 2023-24 to 2025-26. The projects coming to fruition were supporting the prevention agenda of the council and supporting vulnerable residents.

The Leader noted that recommendation 5 in the report would be updated ahead of the Full Council meeting to reflect that earmarked reserves would no longer be used as additional funding had been received by government.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet makes the following recommendations to Council on 6 February 2024.

Cabinet recommends that Council:

1. Approves the net revenue budget requirement be set at £1,197.1 million (net cost of services after service specific government grants) for 2024/25 (Annex B), subject to confirmation of the Final Local Government Financial Settlement.
2. Approves the total Council Tax Funding Requirement be set at £914.9 million for 2024/25. This is based on a council tax increase of 4.99%, made up of an increase in the level of core council tax of 2.99% and an increase of 2% 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 3%).
4. Sets the Surrey County Council precept for Band D Council Tax at £1,758.60, which represents a 4.99% uplift. This is a rise of £1.61 a week from the 2023/24 precept of £1,675.08. This includes £251.44 for the Adult Social Care precept, which has increased by £33.50. A full list of bands is as follows:

5. Approves the use of £5m of earmarked reserves, to enable additional targeted preventative and early intervention investment in the event that the Final Local Government Finance Settlement does not provide any additional funding to that contained in the provisional settlement (paragraph 6).
6. Notes that underlying General Fund Balances are projected to remain at £49 million as of 1 April 2024.
7. Approves the Total Schools Budget of £656.7 million to meet the Council’s statutory requirement on schools funding (as set out in Section 9 of the 2024/25 Final Budget and Medium-Term Financial Strategy to 2028/29).
8. Approves the overall indicative Budget Envelopes for Directorates and individual services for the 2024/25 budget (Annex B).
9. Approves the total £1,902.4 million proposed five-year Capital Programme (comprising £1,291.3 million of budget and £611.1 million pipeline) and approves the £404.9 million Capital Budget in 2024/25 (Annex C).
10. Approves the Capital and Investment Strategy (Annex F - Sections 1 to 3), 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.
11. Approves the policy for making a prudent level of revenue provision for the repayment of debt - the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy (Annex G).
12. Notes 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 2024/25 Final Budget Report and Medium-Term Financial Strategy to 2028/29).
13. Cabinet notes that the Audit & Governance Committee has approved the following at its meeting on the 17th January 2024: Treasury Management Strategy and Prudential Indicators (Annex F – Section 4) which set a framework for the Council’s treasury function to manage risks, source borrowing and invest surplus cash.

Reasons for Decisions:

Council will meet on 6 February 2024 to agree a budget and to set the Council Tax Precept for 2024/25. 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.