Issue - meetings

To scrutinise the information before the Cabinet recommends the 2026/27 budget to the Full Council

DECISION:

·       To accept the report and note the content

·       To accept the financial propriety of the proposals and the relevant risks

·       To submit observations from the discussion to the Cabinet for its consideration when discussing and approving the 2026/27 Budget at its meeting on 10/02/26

·       To thank the Finance Department for their thorough work in preparing the Budget

·       The overspending situation was worrying

·       There was concern that the reserve was dwindling – a harvesting exercise would be welcomed

·       Development/improvement plans for Residential Homes in Gwynedd – request for the findings of the Housing LIN Cymru inquiry to be submitted to the Committee

Note:

-        List of capital bids – the plan to extend Ysgol y Faenol car park. A request from the Local Member for further details regarding the reasons for the time slippage (original date 2021) and the costs associated with the slippage

-        A suggestion to present Council tax information in monetary value (£) rather than a percentage (%) only

-        The Finance Officer's statement – that the budget 'inevitably includes an element of risk from assumptions' ... are there plans in place if there is a reduction in housing premium collections, but an increase in demand for building houses?

A report was submitted by the Cabinet Member for Finance, noting that the Council had received a Government grant increase of 4.1% for 2026/27, which equated to an increase worth £10.4m in external funding. It was reported that many factors would create additional spending pressures on the Council's services in 2026/27, with the need to increase spending by £23.3m to meet the pressures on the services' budgets. With pressures in demand for services as well as high inflation, it was noted that there would be a recommendation to increase Council Tax by 5.32% to meet the objective this year, with projections suggesting there would be further pressures when aiming to set a balanced budget for 2027/28.

It was highlighted that the Committee's role was to ensure that the Cabinet and Council were clear about the facts presented to them so that the decision they made was based on sound information.

The Head of Finance Department was invited in his role as statutory finance officer to present the information, express his view and provide details on the robustness of the estimates that formed the basis of the budget, along with the potential risks and mitigation steps.

He highlighted that the Cabinet (meeting on 10/02/26) would recommend that the Full Council (05/03/26) establish a budget of £379,866,050 for 2026/27 to be funded through a Government Grant of £264,009,390 and £115,856,660 in Council Tax income (which was a 5.32% increase) and establish a capital programme of £40,179,430 in 2026/27.

It was explained that Additional Expenditure Requirements had been considered in the budget and attention was drawn to those fields:

·        Salary Inflation of £8.3m - an estimated pay agreement increase for 2026/27 of 4% for teachers and 3.4% for the rest of the workforce

·        Supplier Inflation of £6,075,390

·        Increase in Levies to relevant bodies - £528,810

·        Pressures on Services – to recommend approving bids worth £9,910,580 for additional permanent revenue resources submitted by Council departments to meet unavoidable pressures on their services, and £840,010 worth of capital bids

·        Reversing the Employer National Insurance Grant 2025/26 - £3,632,950

In the context of savings schemes, reference was made to £320,500 worth of savings schemes which derived from previous savings programmes and had already been approved by the Council to reduce the financial deficit.

It was reported that the remainder of the deficit would have to be met through Council Tax, and consequently, the Cabinet would recommend to the Full Council to raise the tax by 5.32% in order to meet the pressures on services when setting a balanced budget.

Reference was made to the required work that was undertaken to report on the robustness of the estimates on which the budget had been based, and having considered all risks and mitigation steps, the Head of Finance was of the opinion that the Council's Budget for 2026/27 was robust, sufficient and achievable.

The members thanked the officer for the presentation and the staff for their work. It was encouraging to see that the situation was better than  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5