DECISION

1.      Propose a draft General Fund Revenue Funding Requirement of £484.136m for 2025-26 subject to any remaining changes arising from the final Local Government Finance Settlement and any other necessary adjustments.

2.      Propose to levy a 2% Adult Social Care precept and an increase of 2.99% on the general Council Tax element for 2025-26. The council continues to shield those most in need from the burden of increased council tax by continuing the Council Tax Support Relief Fund and increasing the qualifying household income ceiling to £50,350.

3.      Note that the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme will remain unchanged for 2025-26.

4.      Note the Council Taxbase calculations in Appendix 4.

5.      Approve that the Corporate Director Resources, in consultation with the mayor and Cabinet Member for Resources & Cost of living, be authorised to make any changes required to the draft budget following receipt of the Final Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) for further consideration at Cabinet on 29 January 2025.

6.      Note the General Fund Reserve increase to £25m to meet the Chartered Institute of Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) best practice guidance.

7.      Note the latest draft position of the Council’s reserves.

8.      Approve the HRA housing rent and service charge increases as outlined in section 3.12.  This includes increasing housing rents for all properties by 2.7% for 2024-25 (CPI +1%) and service charges by 1.7% (CPI).

9.      Agree that the National Schools Funding Formula (NSFF) adopted by Tower Hamlets originally in 2019-20 continues for 2025-26. The only changes included are increases to the factor values in line with the NSFF.

10.   Agree that the Minimum Funding Guarantee (the mechanism that guarantees schools a minimum uplift in per-pupil funding) is set as close to 0.5% as affordable, the maximum allowed after consideration for growth and factor changes in School allocations.

11.   Note the School funding position set out at Section 3.11, in particular the overall Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficit.

12.   Note the Equalities Implications as set out in Section 5.

13.   Approve the proposed discretionary fees and charges as detailed in Appendix 7A.

14.   Approve the proposed statutory fees and charges as detailed in Appendix 7B.

15.   Approve the charges relating to the Housing Revenue Account in Appendix 8.

16.   Approve the continued delegation for amendments to fees and charges, including those to take account of the result of any Equality Impact Assessment that may be identified, to the relevant Corporate Director following consultation with the Lead Member and the Mayor, and that they will be reviewed throughout the year as part of the budget monitoring process.

17.   Agree that all increases and new fees are implemented from 1^st April 2025 where possible or as soon as practical thereafter.

Action by

Corporate Director Resources (J. Lorraine)

Director of Finance, Procurement and Audit (A. Kassim)