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Decision details

Budget 2025 – 2026

Decision Maker: Executive, Council

Decision status: For Determination

Is Key decision?: Yes

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Decisions:

The purpose of the report was to provide an update on the budget for 2025/26 following the provisional government funding settlement on 18 December 2024.

 

Items to be considered included:

1.    The Draft Base Budget for 2025/26

2.    The Council’s Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2031/32

3.    The level of Council Tax for 2025/26

4.    The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)

5.    The Responses from the Statutory Budget Consultation

 

Councillor Alaric Smith, Executive Member for Finance, presented the report and proposed accepting the recommendations. Councillor Smith noted that the Budget presented to Executive included a contribution to general fund reserve of £91,280.  Version one of the report had been presented to the Executive on 11 December 2024, with an estimated contribution to general fund of £400k before growth which had been based on the anticipated funding settlement.

 

Councillor Smith presented section five of the report which contained key movements from the approved budget 24/25 which had originally projected and a contribution to General Fund reserves of £5,107. The movements were detailed in table 1 and explained in section 5.3of the report. The most notable points were summarised by Councillor Smith as; the negative impact of the reduction in the National Insurance threshold and the percentage increase of employer contributions, the positive impact of contract work done with regards to glass recycling and dry and mixed recycling, and the estimate of Council Tax second home premium.

 

Councillor Smith stated that the provisional funding settlement was announced on 18 December 2024 and was £55k better than anticipated in version 1 on the budget. The key differences were highlighted in section 4.3 of the report.

 

Section 6.1 presented key movements from version 1 to version 2 of the budget presented to the Executive on 15 January 2025. Version 2 projected a contribution to General Fund reserves of £554k before growth. The movements were detailed in Table 2 of the report and explained beneath the table. Councillor Smith summarised the key movements: -

 

  • Changes in Fees and Charges including increases in Green Waste Licences of £2.50. Councillor Smith noted that this was still well below charges in most neighbouring districts, and the draft charges had previously been approved by the Executive on 15 January 2025.
  • Staff development budget of £150k. The TUPE of staff back to the Council, in phase 1 of the Publica transition had resulted in new organisational structures and additional training needed to be provided to staff to ensure that they were supported in their roles.
  • The one-off allocation of £2.3m of Extended Producer Responsibilities funding. This funding was a fee charged for packaging supplies imported into the UK. The money was passed to local Authorities to deal with handling the waste from this. The payment figure for 2025/26 had been announced now to allow authorities to plan. The budget report recommended that £1.7m of this was moved to Earmarked Reserves.

 

Councillor Smith explained that Section 7 of the report provided details of key movements in the Budget taken to Executive in January to the version being presented at the Executive. The section showed a change from a surplus of £553,881 before growth to an estimated contribution to General Fund of £556,824 before growth and £91,280 after growth. The budget movements were shown in Table 3 and the Growth Requests on Table 4. Councillor Smith presented the key movements:

 

  • Publica Phase 2 costs, including one-off costs which would be funded through earmarked reserves, and enduring costs of £200k per year which had been included in the base budget.
  • The estimated growth in Business Rates income of £1,055,228.
  • Growth requests included; Transformation roles in Waste and Planning. These roles included a Waste Transformation Lead, Planning Enforcement Officer, housing posts and a Leisure Projects Officer.

 

Councillor Smith advised that continuing budget risks were identified in section 7.3 of the report and MTFS Assumptions detailed in section 8. Capital Programme information was contained in section 10. The Capital Programme information explained the possibility for the need for external borrowing to fund elements of the programme from 2025 to 2026 onwards. This programme included the purchase of temporary emergency accommodation and replacement waste fleet vehicles. 

 

Statutory Override Provision, Publica Transition and Budget Consultation were detailed in section 11, 12 and 13 respectively.

 

Councillor Smith advised that the final Local Government Finance Settlement was announced on 3 February 2025. This included an additional £117k for WODC as compensation for the increased National Insurance burden. The budget report recommended that this be moved to the budget deficit reserve.

 

Councillor Smith concluded by stating that the latest version of the budget provided a surplus of £91,280. Councillor Smith summarised that the Council continued to manage the finances and keep lines of communication open and in doing so continued to offer the best service possible to the residents of West Oxfordshire.

 

Councillor Andy Graham, Leader of the Council, noted that the Budget Report had been presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and was therefore in its final phase before going to Council for approval. Councillor Graham seconded the recommendations which were then taken to a vote and agreed by the Executive.

 

RESOLVED:

That the Executive noted:

1.       The Parish Precepts and Tax Levels set out in Annex H.

Recommended the following to Council for approval:

2.       The General Fund Revenue Budget as Summarised in Annex A.

3.       The Updated Medium Term Financial Strategy in Annex B.

4.       The Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2031/32 as set out in Annex D.

5.       The Council’s Pay Policy Statement as set out in Annex J.

6.       The Level of District Council Tax for 2025/26 for a Band D property of £129.38 as shown in Annexes E-G.

 

Report author: Madhu Richards

Publication date: 13/02/2025

Date of decision: 12/02/2025

Decided at meeting: 12/02/2025 - Executive

Effective from: 21/02/2025

Accompanying Documents:

 

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