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)

Councillor Saied Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Resources and the Cost of Living introduced the report that proposed a 2025/26 budget and new 3-year MTFS for the Council. Councillor Ahmed reiterated the highlights of the report as set out by the Mayor under Item 3 (Announcements from the Mayor) including new investment in waste, social care, community safety, education and efforts to tackle the cost of living.

He explained how the proposals would offer protections to vulnerable residents, including council tax support. He explained how a prudent approach had been taken to setting the budget, including increasing reserves to £25million. He expressed his pride in the proposals which he indicated were prudent and sustainable, whilst securing and investing in the future of the borough.

Julie Lorraine, Corporate Director Resources, added detail and provided an overview of the approach to risk-management and mitigation in the proposals. She highlighted some of the key risks identified, in particular business rates reform, and explained how the budget and MTFS provided protection against both identified and unidentified risks. Julie explained the proposals placed no reliance on reserves to fund recurring costs. Julie also explained that, whilst income generation targets were delivered in 2024/25, only 2% of new savings were to be funded by income generation.

Councillor Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding provided an overview of the proposals as relating to the proposed Housing Revenue Account budget including investment to fund new acquisitions and headroom for new pipeline programmes; repairs and improvements; investment in housing options services; and improvements to governance and controls.

Cabinet lead members provided details of how proposed investment in their portfolio areas were expected to deliver improvements in the lives of residents.

The Chief Executive and several Cabinet lead members reported interest from their counterparts in other local authorities who had expressed admiration at how the Council had continued to invest and improve services whilst many in the sector were making cuts and reducing services. It was reported there was an appetite in the local government sector to learn best practice from LBTH and its innovative approach to financial planning.

The Mayor welcomed the report and the support and buy-in from all members and officers for the proposals. He expressed his ambition to continue the same innovation, momentum and accomplishments in future years.

RESOLVED that the Mayor in Cabinet:

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  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5