Agenda item

Recommend to the Council (at its meeting on 6 March 2025) that a budget of £355,243,800 should be established for 2025/26 to be funded by a £246,818,190 Government Grant and £108,425,610 of Council Tax income (which is an increase of 8.66%).

Recommend to the Council (at its meeting on 6 March 2025) that a capital programme of £53,736,190 should be established for 2025/26 to be funded from the sources noted in Appendix 4 of the report.

The report was submitted by Councillor Huw Wyn Jones. ⁠

DECISION

To recommend to the Council (at its meeting on 6 March 2025) that a budget of £355,243,800 should be established for 2025/26 to be funded by a £246,818,190 Government Grant and £108,425,610 of Council Tax income (which is an increase of 8.66%).

To recommend to the Council (at its meeting on 6 March 2025) that a capital programme of £53,736,190 should be established for 2025/26 to be funded from the sources noted in Appendix 4 of the report.

DISCUSSION

The report was submitted noting that the budget was an attempt to invest in services that catered for the most vulnerable, such as adult social services and care services for children. This will be done by investing to reduce waiting lists and trying to rectify budgets that could not be invested in previously. The Finance Department were thanked for their hard work in preparing the budget.

A presentation summarising the main points of the report was shared. Reference was made to the overspend totalling £8.3 million with almost £7 million coming from the care services namely Adult, Health and Well-being and Children and Families. It was thought that this was partly due to people living longer with more intensive conditions, and it was noted that addressing these requirements were costly.

Reference was made to the revenue bids noting that £6.8 million has already been approved and many had also received support or were new issues in 2025/26. It was noted that this meant that a total of £7.7 million of additional resources needed to be found. Taking into account the increase in levies, salary inflation and an increase in the employer's national insurance, it was noted that the Council's total additional expenditure was £24 million.

It was confirmed by considering the basic budget and the additional expenditure and income from the Welsh Government Grant, that there was a financial gap of £109 million to be funded from savings and Council Tax. It was noted that after including the savings there was a residual gap to be addressed through Council Tax of £108,45,610. It was elaborated that Council Tax would have to be increased by 8.66% to meet this figure. It was acknowledged that this was not good news but that there were few other options.

The Head of Finance referred to Appendix 10, namely a statutory finance officer's statement on the resilience of the estimates and he elaborated that he was confident that the budgets submitted were sound and adequate.

Observations arising from the discussion:

•           Gratitude was expressed for the presentation, and it was noted that the slides presented were of assistance to understand the figures.

•           Reference was made to the costly services such as adults and school costs and it was noted that they are not obvious services but very costly ones to maintain.

o          The Cabinet Member reiterated that the Department had not disrupted the Education budget too much this year. It caused concern that County residents do not see the care work unless they are a care recipient and therefore do not understand how expensive it is.

•           It was expressed that there was no pleasure in suggesting increases in Council Tax. It was added that Council Tax reduction schemes were available.

o          The Head of Finance elaborated that there were limits to qualifying for this scheme but took the opportunity to note that it was important for those eligible to make a claim for any benefits or discounts.