Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Chief Finance Officer and Director of Corporate Operations regarding the revenue budget and precept 2022/23

Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Finance Officer and Director of Corporate Operations regarding the revenue budget and precept 2022/23.

With the agreement of the Leader, Councillor House addressed Cabinet. He recognised the difficulty of budget setting when income didn’t match long term cost pressures and, noting that this appeared to particularly affect upper tier counties, asked what direction should be taken to address the deficit.

The serious issues with local government financing were acknowledged by Cabinet, who agreed that a reset was needed and highlighted the need to separate the funding for local discretionary services from statutory service provision.

The report was introduced and it was noted that this was an interim year in the budget setting cycle. Changes since the budget was originally set were highlighted and pressures in the areas of Adult Services, Children’s Services, National Insurance increases and energy cost inflation were detailed. It was explained how the budget could be balanced for 2022/23 and 2023/24 through the use of the budget bridging reserve, however the longer term inflationary pressures meant that a significant deficit was anticipated beyond that. The solution to these longer term pressures lay with government, in particular with the funding of social care and it was confirmed that a discussion with senior civil servants was scheduled to discuss the issues.

Cabinet welcomed the pragmatic budget set out in the report and recognised the need for long term flexibility and support. The unpredictability of inflationary pressures and the potential for prices to continue to rise was acknowledged.

The recommendations in the report were considered and agreed. A decision

record is attached to these minutes.