Decision details

his report seeks approval of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy for 2025/26 to 2026/27. The objective is to deliver a balanced budget over the period and the Medium-Term Financial Strategy identifies the actions required to achieve this position and the assumptions made. It has been prepared alongside the emerging Council Plan to reflect the ambitions of the Council withing the financial constraints of the sector. The detail is included in Appendix 'A'.

As part of this process underlying demand pressures and inflation assumptions have been challenged and reassessed. A rigorous review of the current 2024/25 budget has been undertaken to identify further efficiencies and opportunities to reduce expenditure. A review of savings already in the budget has also been examined to confirm the deliverability.

The report before Cabinet identifies a shortfall of £9.095m in 2025/26 but achieves a balanced position by 2026/27. It is summarised in the table below.

To achieve this position based upon the demand and inflation assessments within the strategy, additional new savings of £24m in 2025/26 and £20.6m in 2026/27 are required. This is a challenge on top of the already planned service savings of £80m within the budget. Clear plans are being developed to deliver this position.

The Cabinet approved the recommendation(s) as set out in the report.