Agenda item

(a)  That the savings set out in Appendix A to the report be included in the Revenue Budget 2016-17 to be approved by Council in February, subject to the final Local Government Finance Settlement, taxbase papers and any further adjustments.

(b)  That the latest financial planning assumptions and the impact of these on future service delivery be noted.

The Assistant Director Finance & Audit updated the Cabinet on the latest financial planning assumptions following the Spending Review and Autumn Statement announced on 25^th November, and proposed a number of further savings for 2016/17 to be included in the revenue budget to be recommended to Council in February 2016.

The Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) would not be published until later in December and finalised in January, however the medium term financial planning assumptions had been revised in light of the Spending Review.  The forecast funding reductions had increased by a further £1m in 2016/17 and £2m in 2017/18.  The Revenue Support Grant (RSG) would be reduced to £20m in 2016/17, which was £4m less than the current year and down from £40m in 2013/14.  Council’s would be able to raise Council Tax by a further 2% above the referendum threshold, providing it would directly support adult social care.  This would yield an additional £0.9m if implemented in Slough and Commissioners commented that the net impact of the increased RSG cut and additional ability to raise Council Tax appeared in effect to transfer the burden to local taxpayers.  There had been no announcement on the Council Tax Freeze Grant.  Other key announcements from the Spending Review were summarised.  Commissioners were informed that the system of full Business Rate retention would be implemented by 2020, however, Slough would not keep the entire £100m collected locally and there would be a redistributive system of tariffs.

The total savings required over the four years of the MTFS was approximately £38m, an increase of £5m since the Spending Review due to the front loading of funding reductions to non-protected areas including local government.  The Cabinet considered the proposed savings for 2016/17 set out fully in Appendices A and B to the report.  This second tranche of savings totalled £3.8m, a significant proportion of which were adult social care transformation and efficiencies.  These savings were additional to the £4.8m presented to Cabinet in November and the remaining gap of £3m would need to be closed prior to recommending the revenue budget to Council in February 2016.  Commissioners asked about the work being undertaken to close this gap in the coming weeks and it was noted that the MTFS would be revised following the LGFS which would confirm the level of savings required.  The feedback from the online budget simulator would be analysed, further consideration would be given to the levels of Council Tax and further savings identified.

The Cabinet noted the latest financial planning assumptions and agreed to include the savings 2016/17 proposed in Appendices A and B to the report in the revenue budget to be recommended to Council in February.

Resolved –

(a)  That the savings set out in Appendix A to the report be included in the Revenue Budget 2016-17 to be approved by Council in February, subject to the final Local Government Finance Settlement, taxbase papers and any further adjustments.

(b)  That the latest financial planning assumptions and the impact of these on future service delivery be noted.