Issue - meetings

To submit the report of the Cabinet Member for Finance.

1. To set a budget of £379,701,110 for 2026/27, to be funded by £264,009,390 of Government Grant and £115,691,720 of Council Tax income (which is a base increase of 4.75% plus a further 0.42% to meet the levy from the Fire Authority, which gives a total of 5.17%).

2. A capital programme of £40,179,430 in 2026/27 should be established, to be funded from the sources set out in Appendix 4 of the report.

The report was presented, stating that a number of questions arose about how council tax was spent. Information was presented which highlighted the main areas, such as that 80% of the funding went towards Education and Care. It was highlighted that 8,000 hours per week were given to domiciliary care each week, with 1500 individuals receiving a Telecare service. It was noted that 12,000 people had received support through the Housing Action plan since 2020. They highlighted that 93% of children had been able to stay at home with their families through the Trobwynt intervention, and that two Small Homes were now in operation, with a further two homes on the way. It was expressed that good work was being done and that the successes achieved by Council staff needed to be highlighted.

The budget was presented stating that it was necessary to begin with the financial forecasts from the current financial year in order to fully understand the situation. It was highlighted that there was a £5.3m overspend, where departmental budgets were not sufficient to meet the demand for service. It was explained that the main demand was in care, with a deficit of £3m in the Adults department and £1.8m in the Children's Department. It was added that the overspend had been funded through the use of reserves. It was expressed that due to the deal made in Cardiff at the end of last year, the settlement was much better than predicted at 4.1% – an additional £10.4m.

It was explained that as part of the budget-setting process the department had made a number of assumptions such as a pay rise of 4% for teachers and 3.4% for the rest of the Council's workforce. Along with natural inflation, it was noted that there was a need to invest in services, and there were ambitious plans for the coming year such as investment in care and education services.

It was estimated that an additional £23.3m would need to be spent in the next financial year to sustain our services, with the greatest pressure coming from salary inflation, general inflation and the increase in the demand for services. It was noted that this created a spending requirement for 2026/27 of £380m. It was explained that the settlement from the Welsh Government was £264m which left a gap of £116m. In terms of savings, it was highlighted that £664,000 worth of savings had already been approved, with a quarter of a million of these being available to cover the funding gap. As a result, in order to set a balanced budget this will mean raising the Council Tax by 5.17%.

It was explained that the tax base increased to just under 58k of dwellings due to an increase in the number of properties, the number that were subject to the Council Tax Premium and the decision to increase the premium on long-term empty properties. They expressed that it was very disappointing that the tax increase was higher than inflation once again,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7