Agenda item

To consider the Medium Term Financial Strategy and Budget Proposals 2022/23.

Councillor Hargreaves was invited to present the Medium Term Financial Strategy and Budget Proposals for 2022-23. He detailed an amendment to the report for £100 to be credited to the Council Tax of those benefitting from Local Council Tax Support from the 31 January 2022. He indicated that he was happy to support the amendment.

 

Councillor Khan requested that Councillor Hargreaves retract his statement until the amendment had been proposed.

 

Councillor Hargreaves retracted his statement.

 

Councillor Hargreaves presented the report regarding Medium Term Financial Strategy and Budget Proposals 2022 – 2023. He highlighted the following:

 

• Details of the proposed extra £150 relief for those living in Council Tax bands A – D properties, as recently announced by the Chancellor, would be paid directly to eligible residents whose bank details were already held. Letters would be despatched to obtain the bank details of other eligible residents to enable their payments to be processed.

 

• Thanks were given to the team of officers who had worked over the Christmas period, with some cancelling holiday to do so, as a result of the Government changing the rules on investments and borrowing in December 2021. The work ensured that Cabinet and officers had the opportunity to compare several investment strategy options and resulted in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) presented to Council.

 

• Details regarding the mitigating financial work in light of the recent planning designation and the potential loss of major planning application fees. This had been incorporated in the general fund budget for this year and the MTFS.

 

• Details regarding the proposed Council Tax increase of £5 per year on a band D property, an increase of 3.09%. Of the five preceptors, the District Council had the second lowest increase.

 

• The Council had a strong financial strategy with diversified income streams and continued to provide high quality services without the majority of the financial burden falling on local council tax payers. The budget proposed was balanced with no financial cuts proposed in 2022 – 2023.

 

• Despite the Government’s imposed requirements, the Council maintained a substantial investment income of £5.7million. The portfolio showed a £42million capital gain by valuation in September 2021, and that was before building was completed in places. The Government now required the Council to set aside the minimum revenue provision to prematurely play down the borrowings and the new Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) rules prevent local authorities from running their portfolios efficiently, preventing selling and reinvesting at the optimum times. This forced the Council to build large reserves for long term costs on buildings that were unnecessary as the intention would be to retain the building only until the optimal sale date.

 

Councillor Hargreaves proposed approval of the budget strategies and reports and requested that the Council noted the Equalities Health Impact Assessment.

 

This was seconded by Councillor Reeve.

 

Councillor Khan was invited to table his amendment, published as follows:

 

The cost-of-living crisis has been growing in scale and impact over the last six months, with inflation reaching historic levels and yet to peak. Those on the lowest incomes are most exposed.

 

Whilst the crisis is already affecting households across Uttlesford, it is set to deepen further with rising inflation as well as a planned National Insurance hike in April. The increase in energy prices will push more of our households into fuel poverty. The Citizens Advice service in Uttlesford has seen a 35% rise in people accessing fuel debt advice in 2021

 

The Government has announced some assistance with a £150 payment to households in properties rated A to D. In addition, they have made provision for a £200 bill credit loan for households which will be automatically added to bills in October and then repaid by those households in equal instalments over four years from April 2023.

 

Data provided by the Section 151 Officer indicates that as of 31st January 2022, there are currently 3,334 claimants in Uttlesford who qualify for the Local Council Tax Support Scheme. All claimants are subjected to means testing to determine the percentage they must pay. However, low-income pensioners and vulnerable people are protected, and receive 100% discount. Working age people, which equated to 948 of the claimants only receive partial support as per the Council’s Local Council Tax Support Policy and are required to pay a minimum of 12.5% of the Council Tax bill.

 

We propose to help these people by providing a one-off cash rebate of £100 per household. The qualifying date to be eligible for the rebate was 31 January 2022. The rebate would be allocated to the household’s Council Tax account. The total cost would be £94,800 to be funded from the MTFS Reserve.

 

Even after providing a £100 rebate, each of the 948 households will still have a Council Tax liability. Nobody will end up in the situation whereby the Local Council Tax Support they receive plus the £100 will be more than their Council Tax bill.

 

Supporting this amendment, Members will send a very strong message to low-income families in our district that we are helping them through targeted action at this time of high inflation, low benefit levels and soaring energy costs.

 

Councillor Isham seconded the amendment and urged the whole Council to support it.

 

Members discussed the proposal to provide a one-off £100 rebate per qualifying household.

 

Details regarding the member donations to Uttlesford Foodbank and The Citizen’s Advice Bureau were requested.

 

Councillor Barker noted that she supported the motion but could not support the whole budget and asked for Council to vote separately on the amendment.

 

The Leader of the Council welcomed a collaborative budget setting process. She noted her support for the amendment.

 

Councillor Khan requested a recorded vote on the amendment. The recorded vote was as follows:

 

 

Councillor:	For, Against or Abstain
Armstrong	For
Asker	For
Bagnall	For
Barker	For
Caton	For
Coote	Abstain
De Vries	For
Driscoll	For
Emanuel	For
Evans	For
Foley	For
Freeman	For
Gregory	For
Hargreaves	For
Isham	For
Jones	For
Khan	For
Lavelle	For
LeCount	For
Lees	For
Lemon	For
Light	For
Luck	For
Merifield	For
Oliver	For
Pavitt	For
Pepper	For
Reeve	For
Sell	For
Smith	For
Sutton	For
Tayler	For

 

The resolution was carried with 31 for and 1 abstention. The amendment was incorporated into the substantive budget motion.

 

Members discussed the MTFS and budget proposals for 2022-23.

 

In summary:

 

• The Chief Executive was in discussion with Essex County Council regarding funding for the Local Highways Panel.
• Concerns were raised in regards to the financial impact of the planning designation and the potential loss of £560,000 as forecasted.
• The 4.9% increase in council rents had been taken to the Tenants Forum and Housing Board for consultation; while tenants were not happy about the increase, they understood why it was required.
• The number of council homes built under the administration had been made available and published with the latest Housing board papers.
• Only 160 responses to the budget consultation had been received. This was consistent with previous years and it was suggested that other topics, such as climate change, tended to generate more interest and therefore had a higher response rate.
• Reassurances were sought regarding the ongoing issues with Uttlesford Norse. It was important that tenants received the quality of service they were entitled to. The Council was working closely with Uttlesford Norse Ltd to resolve these problems.

 

 

The Chair indicated he would be taking the proposal to a vote.

 

Councillor Caton protested that he had wished to ask a clarification question on the most important debate the Council held each year. He stated that he would not vote as he had not been permitted to speak.

 

The Chair said that Councillor Caton`s group had raised approximately 80% of the questions asked.

 

Councillor Foley suggested that the Chair permit Councillor Caton to ask his question and the Chair agreed.

 

Councillor Caton requested clarification over the Climate Change budget and requested a guarantee that the unspent budget would be spent or carried forward into the next administration.

 

Councillor Hargreaves confirmed that the £1million was to be spent over three years and any unspent budget would be carried into the following year. He noted that the team had sourced significant further grant funding for the projects.

 

Councillor Caton requested clarification on the Commercial Strategy which stated that the Council owned the land at Chesterford Research Park, however he believed that the Council owed 50% of the land. Additionally, as the new financial situation would restrict spending, how would subsequent development be funded once the allocated £12million had been spent.

 

Councillor Hargreaves confirmed that Aspire owned 50% of the land Chesterford Research Park and that the Council were permitted to continue investment in properties they already had acquired.

 

The Chair indicated he would be taking the substantive motion to a vote. The Council Tax resolution as setout in Appendix I was necessitated by law to be determined by a recorded vote. The Chair requested a recorded vote.

 

 

 

Councillor: For, Against or Abstain Armstrong For Asker For Bagnall For Barker Against Caton For Coote Abstain De Vries For Driscoll For Emanuel For Evans For Foley For Freeman For Gregory For Hargreaves For Isham Abstain Jones For Khan For Lavelle For LeCount For Lees For Lemon Abstain Light Abstain Luck For Merifield For Oliver Abstain Pavitt For Pepper For Reeve For Sell For Smith Abstain Sutton For Tayler For

 

The resolution was carried with 25 for, 1 against and 6 abstentions.

 

 

RESOLVED to:

                             

A) Section 25 Report - Robustness of Estimates and Adequacy of Reserves

 

I.              Take account of the advice in the report when determining the 2022/23 General Fund budget and Council Tax.

II.            Review the risk assessment relating to the robustness of estimates as detailed in the report.

III.           Set the minimum safe contingency level for 2022/23 at £1.597 million for the General Fund and £0.546 million for the Housing Revenue Account.

IV.          Agree that no transfers to or from the Working Balance should be built into the 2022/23 budget.

 

B) Commercial Strategy

 

V.            Approve The Commercial Strategy 2022 – 2027.

 

C) Medium Term Financial Strategy

 

VI.          Approves the Medium Term Financial Strategy and note the Budget Consultation report.

 

D) Treasury Management Strategy

                   

VII.         Approves The Treasury Management Strategy.

 

E) Capital Strategy

 

VIII.        Approve the Capital Strategy.

IX.          Approve the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy.

F) Capital Programme

 

X.            Approve the 5 year Capital Programme.

 

G) Housing Revenue Account (HRA)

 

XI.          Approve the Housing Revenue Account budget for 2022/23.

XII.         Approve the increase of 4.9% for Housing and Supported Accommodation rents, Garage Rents and Lifeline Service.

XIII.        Approve increases in line with actual costs for Housing Related Support charges, Intensive Housing Management charges and Heating, Service and Sewerage charges.

XIV.       Approve the updated use of reserves.

 

   H) General Fund Revenue and Council Tax

 

XV.        Approve the General Fund Budget for 2022/23

XVI.       Approve the General Fund Council Tax requirement of £6,403,772.

XVII.      Approve the transfer of reserves including the deficit for 2022/23 to be drawn from the MTFS reserve in the Core Reserves.

XVIII.    Approve the schedule of fees and charges as set out in Annexe H6.

XIX.       Approve that delegated authority is given to the Director of Finance and Corporate Services to amend the trade waste fees.

 

I)             Council Tax Resolution

 

XX.        Approve the Council Tax Resolution for 2022/23.

 

     J) Equalities Health Impact Assessment

 

XXI.       To note the information provided in the EqHIA’s

 

      K) One-off £100 rebate to working age claimants of LCTS

 

To provide a £100 rebate to the qualifying 948 households as stipulated in the amendment as accepted.