Issue - meetings

The report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

It was RESOLVED that Cabinet RECOMMENDS to Council that it:

a)               adopts the budget setting report and associated financial strategies 2026/27 to 2030/31 and appendices (attached Annex), including the summarised Special Expenses budget at Appendix 1, Budget Summary at Appendix 2, use of Reserves at Appendix 4, Transformation and Efficiency Plan at Appendix 5, core spending power at Appendix 6 and Report of the Nottinghamshire Finance Officers on the Business Rates Pool at Appendix 7;

b)               adopts the Capital Programme as set out in Appendix 3;

c)               adopts the Capital and Investment Strategy at Appendix 9;

d)               sets Rushcliffe’s 2026/27 Council Tax for a Band D property at £161.77 (no increase from 2025/26, a freeze for one year);

e)               sets the Special Expenses for 2026/27 for West Bridgford, Ruddington and Keyworth, resulting in the following Band D Council Tax levels for the Special Expense Areas:

                          i.   West Bridgford £67.40 (£64.84 in 2025/26)

                        ii.   Keyworth £3.35 (£3.21 in 2025/26)

                       iii.    Ruddington £3.40 (£3.14 in 2025/26); and

f)                 adopts the Pay Policy Statement at Appendix 8; and delegates authority to the Director – Finance and Corporate Services to make any minor amendments to the MTFS once the final Local Government Finance Settlement is received and advise the Finance Portfolio Holder accordingly, to be reported to Full Council.

The Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Finance, Transformation and Governance, Councillor Virdi presented the report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services outlining the Council’s proposed budget for 2026/27, the five-year Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and accompanying information detailed in the report.

Councillor Virdi stated that this had been a challenging budget to prepare, due to significant, large scale, systemic changes to Local Government finance. He notified Cabinet of a minor technical correction in the report, the Band D Council Tax figure referred to in paragraph 4.2 c) and the MTFS Annex should read £161.77 rather than £161.76, and this would be corrected in the report to Full Council. He confirmed that this did not change the substance of the budget.

Councillor Virdi advised that this budget demonstrated the Council’s financial resilience, and despite ongoing reductions in Government funding, including some late changes he would refer to later, it was noted that Council Tax would be frozen, a strong financial position would be maintained, with a balanced budget across the five-year period, as the Council remained debt free. Cabinet was reminded that Rushcliffe continued to have the lowest Council Tax in Nottinghamshire and remained amongst the lowest quartile in the country, which Councillor Virdi felt everyone should be proud of. This was being achieved whilst the Council continued to deliver high quality services and to invest in its people and place, with the budget supporting a £24m Capital Programme, which was focused on supporting the vulnerable, improving communities and leisure facilities, enabling economic growth and reducing the Council’s carbon footprint. It was noted that the Council retained projected earmarked reserves of around £25m, providing resilience going forward, particularly with Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) on the horizon. He referred to the Council’s Transformation and Efficiency Plan, which highlighted how the Council continued to innovate whilst living within its means.

Councillor Virdi referred to key points in the report, as detailed in paragraph 4.2, and advised that this was the first multi-year settlement in over a decade, providing a three-year financial framework. However, Rushcliffe had seen a 2.25% reduction in core spending power, with Business Rates undergoing a national reset, which had significantly impacted the Council, details of which were highlighted in paragraph 4.2 b). Councillor Virdi confirmed that until recently, the budget was based on the provisional settlement; however, there had been a late, material change, following the final Local Government finance settlement, which was issued yesterday, and was referenced in the Addendum circulated at the meeting. The Government had changed the treatment of Business Rates pooling gains, reallocating a significant portion towards upper tier authorities, which particularly affected councils, including Rushcliffe that were members of the Business Rates Pool in 2025-2026. In 2026-2027, the Government was recognising the lateness of this change and would be providing a one-off transitional grant of £0.484m; however, from 2027, there would be an additional cost of around £1.2m, with detailed analysis set out in paragraphs 3.5 and 3.6 of the Addendum. He confirmed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58