MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL
RECORD OF DECISION OF THE Cabinet
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Decision Made: |
19 December 2012 |
Budget Strategy 2013-14 Onwards
Issue for Decision
To agree a draft Council Tax and Budget Strategy for 2013/14 onwards
Decision Made
1. That
the provisional allocation of the local council tax support funding, as set out
in Appendix A of the Corporate Leadership Team, be agreed and notified to
parish councils along with their tax base.
2. That
the revised strategic revenue projection, as set out in Appendix B of the
Corporate Leadership Team, which incorporates the changes outlined in sections
1.6 and 1.7 be agreed.
3. That
the proposed savings, as set out in Appendix C to the report of Corporate
Leadership Team, be agreed.
4.
That the
assumptions used in the development of the available resources as detailed
throughout the report of Corporate Leadership Team be noted.
5. That consideration of the use of the additional capital resources identified in paragraph 1.13.3 of the report of Corporate Leadership Team be deferred pending the final cost of the Museum East Wing project.
6. That the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, be given delegated authority to amend any part of the Budget Strategy arising from the annual announcement by the Department for Communities and Local Government regarding local government finance.
Reasons for Decision
Background
On 25th July 2012 the Cabinet considered the
initial budget strategy for 2013 onwards. At that time a strategic revenue
projection (SRP) was agreed, including a provisional level of Council Tax as a
planning and consultation tool. The agreed SRP included increases for inflation
based on information provided by key officers and projection data from sources
such as the office of budget responsibility. Cabinet chose to set no inflation
increase for supplies and services budgets and instructed officers to produce a
corporate fees and charges report proposing increases for all fees and charges
in line with the Council’s fees and charges policy.
The SRP, that was agreed, estimated resources at £18.8m and predicted expenditure including new budget pressures of £20.8m, leaving a need to find savings in 2013/14 of £2m. At that time a number of risks were considered by Cabinet and these were:
a) The government’s welfare reform plans;
b) The outcome of the consultation on the retention of business rates;
c) The localisation of council tax support;
d) Council tax levels, including the effect of any Local Council Tax Support scheme finally agreed;
e) The level of income achievement;
f) A series of local pressures including health and safety risks, such as King Street Multi Storey Car Park, and the Local Development Framework.
The capital programme was considered in a separate report on
the same agenda and at that time it was agreed that:
a) The capital strategy be amended to including the principle of prudential borrowing where this achieves commercial development;
b) Officers should develop and present proposals that achieve the Council’s objectives through commercial development;
c) Resources would be provided to enhance the asset management programmes, to demolish King Street Car Park and to support the second phase of the High Street Regeneration project.
Funding of the current programme was provided and some
additional resources identified and schemes were agreed according to the
principles set out above. Long term funding remained an important issue, work
on the infrastructure delivery plan was progressing and this would lead to the
development of a community infrastructure levy charged on developments in the
borough in addition the future of the New Homes Bonus payments remained at risk
due to the continuing economic climate and threat of further austerity
measures, and the risk remained that additional resources would not be
sufficient to support a future programme. It was however identified that new
homes bonus of at least £1.8m would be available next year.
Since the initial reports in July 2012 a number of the
factors have changed and these have been considered. At this time the
government has not announced the finance settlement and the report of Corporate
Leadership Team could therefore not consider the provisional figures that will
be provided in that announcement. The report of Corporate Leadership Team did
consider a set of figures calculated from the most recent announcements and
consultation documents produced by Government.
The Autumn Statement
The Autumn Statement is one of two major statements made by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer each year. The other is the budget usually
presented in March. The Chancellor presented the Autumn Statement to Parliament
on 5th December 2012. This is later than in previous years and as a
consequence has delayed the annual announcement by the Department for Communities
and Local Government (DCLG) regarding local government finance.
The key
messages in the Chancellor’s statement for local government finance were that a
spending review would occur as early as the first half of 2013 which would set
the departmental spending plans for 2015/16 onwards. Also that further
reductions in public sector spending were immediately required at 1% in 2013/14
and 2% in 2014/15. Only the 2014/15 reduction of 2% would directly affect local
government.
Other issues were:
a) The extension of the period of doubling of the small business rate relief by a further 12 months. The implications for business rates retention are not yet known;
b) The exemption of all newly built commercial property (completed between October 2013 and September 2016) from empty property rates for 18 months. The implications for the growth incentive of the business rates retention proposal are not yet known but could be significant;
c) The provision of additional resources of up to £2bn into transport infrastructure, up to £600m into ultra-fast broadband in designated cities and over £1bn into education. The government intended that much of this resource would be channeled through the local enterprise partnerships and the Council’s route to securing funding from these proposals for Maidstone would be through bids to the SELEP.
d) Most welfare benefits would increase by 1% per annum over the next two years with state pension and disability benefit increases being greater.
The statement was linked to the latest office of budget
responsibilities economic and fiscal outlook which was published to coincide
with the Autumn Statement. This suggested that GDP would fall this year by 0.1%
before growth commenced in 2013 at 1.2% per annum and rising to 2.7% per annum
over the period to 2016. The forecast suggested that a further year of
austerity measures would be required over those previously predicted as the
Chancellor had revised his deficit reduction target date by one additional year
to 2017/18.
The
implications of this statement for future years are that further austerity
measures will fall on local government with an additional 2% reduction in
funding in 2014/15. The years beyond 2014/15 will be made clearer on the
announcement of the findings of the spending review. At this time it is
expected that the effects will be as severe as the reductions experienced as a
consequence of the last spending review in 2010.
The
implications for 2013/14 will, in the main, arise from the changes to the
business rates retention scheme and will not be clear until the DCLG makes its
funding announcement on 19th December. As this is the same day as
the Cabinet meeting any clear and significant information will be presented at
the meeting followed up by a full briefing if necessary.
Review of Current Performance
The current year’s financial performance is reported to the
Corporate Leadership Team and to the Cabinet on a quarterly basis. The first
two quarterly reports show a reasonably stable under spend against profiled
budget of just over £0.3m. The predicted outturn for the year, as at the end of
September 2012, was a £0.4m under spend comprised mainly of salary vacancies.
The capital programme as approved by the Council in March
2012 has been amended by the Cabinet’s quarterly monitoring to allow scheme
slippage into 2013/14. Additional schemes have been added to the programme to
demolish King Street Multi Storey Car Park and to provide phase 2 of the High
Street Regeneration project, these scheme were agreed by the Cabinet in July
2012 following the identification of funding.
The
combined value of asset sales and other funding is currently above target by
approximately £0.16m and the options this gives are dealt with later in this
report.
The
Cabinet has considered the use of balances this year and a series of proposals
to utilise the significant under spend from 2011/12 have been considered by the
Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee and with some minor changes
will be submitted to the Leader of the Council for final approval prior to this
Cabinet meeting. The maximum amount available from the 2011/12 under spend is
approximately £1.1m and proposals to further the key priorities of the Council,
totalling £0.83m, have been submitted for approval.
Review of Revenue Resources
Business Rates Retained
As stated earlier in this report the DCLG will announce the finance settlement for this council on 19th December 2012 which will set the provisional the level of business rates retained by this council. This will be as a result of setting the business rates baseline, the values of the initial payment to central government, the county council and the fire authority and the level of tariff to be paid to the government. This will leave, by deduction, the value of business rates retained.
Based on the consultation data and other announcements from central government the current estimate is that the business rates retained will be the sum of the following elements:
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£,000 |
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Formula Funding |
5,080 |
Closest comparable figure to 2012/13 formula grant and indicative of a 10.3% reduction in funding |
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2011/12 CT Freeze Grant |
335 |
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Local Council Tax Support Funding (including parish share) |
1,463 |
A Year 1 transitional grant is also included |
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Homelessness Prevention |
101 |
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Total business rates retained |
6,979 |
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The figures tabulated above include the funding of the government’s
proposed localisation of council tax support that will replace council tax
benefit from 1st April 2012. At its meeting on 21st November 2012 the Cabinet
approved the proposed scheme for recommendation to the Council on 12th December
2012 and this funding represents 90% of the government’s predicted expenditure
on council tax benefit, had the scheme continued in 2013/14.
Part of this element of the retained business rates relates to the benefit paid to claimants in parished areas and the proposed local scheme will affect parish precepts. The level of effect was considered by the General Purposes Group when it set the Tax Base for 2013/14. It is clear from the figures given in the government consultation documents that the value has been modelled at a district level and no national attempt has been made to model the effect at a parish level. The government has confirmed that it wishes to pass the funding to district councils and expects appropriate consideration of the funding of parish councils to be made. It has not legislated for the payment of this grant on to parishes.
Should the Council wish to pass on funding to parish councils a method that reflects the loss of income from the reduced ability to generate council tax would be equitable. If such a method is not used then parishes with relatively high levels of benefit claimants and low levels of precept could find themselves disproportionately disadvantaged. One such method, given the work completed to calculate the Tax Base for each parish, is to apportion the funding based upon the value of benefit currently claimed in each area, as any loss through reductions in council tax income will be proportionate to that value.
The Tax Base represents the number of taxable properties in an area expressed as a proportion of the Band D value. It enables the individual charge for each property to be calculated from the precept value provided by each parish to the council. The calculation for 2013/14 includes an adjustment to allow for the discount now granted to previous benefit claimants through the new LCTS scheme and it is this calculation that gives an equitable method of distributing the funding.
In addition to using an equitable allocation method it is appropriate that all resources received by this Council should be distributed as a single value. The sums received have been calculated by central government on a block basis and the lowest level of area it considered is a district council. This means that the government’s distribution is not based upon the transaction levels in each parished or non-parished area separately but for the borough council area as a whole. Added together the standard funding now rolled into retained business rates plus the first year transitional grant totals £1.463m and attached at Appendix A to the report of Corporate Leadership Team was a table that provides the necessary distribution of the total funding on the basis outlined above. The level of funding that would remain within the Council’s own budget strategy is £1.38m. Consideration of how this resource does not fully finance the council’s loss from the scheme is dealt with under the consideration of the resources available from council tax.
Using this figure to calculate this council’s share of retained business rates gives the following estimate:
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£,000 |
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Formula Funding |
5,080 |
Closest comparable figure to 2012/13 formula grant and indicative of a 10.3% reduction in funding |
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2011/12 CT Freeze Grant |
335 |
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Local Council Tax Support Funding (excluding parish share) |
1,379 |
A Year 1 transitional grant is also included |
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Homelessness Prevention |
101 |
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Total business rates retained |
6,895 |
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This estimate is the best available at this time and the Cabinet may wish to give consideration to the views of the Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the apportionment of the LCTS scheme funding to parishes before formal approval of the proposal however it would be necessary for parish councils to be given the provisional figures at this time so that they can continue to prepare their budget forecast for 2013/14 and set their local precepts.
Council Tax
The Council’s current council tax charge has remained stable at the 2010/11 level of £222.39 per annum for a band D property. Set against this stable tax level has been a council tax freeze grant claimed from central government for the two years of a 0% increase. In 2013/14 one of the two grants will cease and the other, as detailed earlier, will remain until 2015/16 but be included in the retained business rates income. Had the council raised the same level of resources from a council tax increase the reduction in resources would not occur and the additional income available to the Council in 2015/16 would be in the region of £0.67m. This would be sufficient to resource the budget pressures outstanding for 2014/15 as set out below.
At the meeting on 25th July 2012 the Cabinet agreed a SRP for planning purposes that included an assumed 3% increase in council tax income. This represented a 2.5% increase in the council tax charge and a 0.5% increase in the tax base arising from new property.
Since that meeting the Government has announced support towards a further council tax freeze. This announcement offers a grant equivalent to a 1% increase for two years and reduces the level at which a council would be required to conduct a referendum over any proposed increase to 2%.
As the Cabinet are aware, from consideration of a 0% increase as part of the budget strategy over the previous two years, resources not gained through a council tax increase are only supported over the period during which the grant is payable. Considering the ten year period from 2011/12, when the first grant was accepted, the Council will have foregone approximately £8.8m in resources by 2020/21. This additional arrangement available from the Government for 2013/14 would, if accepted, mean a further level of resources foregone of £1.8m bringing the maximum foregone income to £1.3m per annum and in total £10.6m by 2020/21.
By the time of this meeting the General Purpose Group had considered and agreed a tax base of 55155.1 which is approximately 10.3% lower than the tax base for 2012/13. This is due to the need to discount the tax base by the consequences of the LCTS scheme that commences on 1st April 2012. Excluding this discounting the underlying tax base has increased by 1.1%.
Considered together the reduced tax base and a further freeze on council tax charge levels would generate £12.266m in 2013/14. An increase of 1.99% in the charge, just below the referendum level, would increase income by £0.244m and therefore generate a total of £12.510m in 2013/14. This would increase band D tax levels by £4.43 per annum to £226.82.
A decision on the level of council tax increase that the Cabinet would wish to recommend to the Council need not be taken at this time however the revised SRP given at Appendix B to the report of Corporate Leadership Team includes 1.99% increase to replace the 2.5% planning assumption to ensure it does not breach the referendum limit.
The Cabinet had also considered a report on the collection fund adjustment. The decision from that report was to distribute approximately £0.2m across the major preceptors and this council. The share calculated for this council is £32,000 and this can be added to the resources available from the council tax charge detailed above.
Combining the resources available to this council from the current estimated level of retained business rates, the council tax income and the collection fund adjustment would produce resources for the period of the revised SRP as tabled below. The Cabinet should note that the level of resources available from retained business rates given for years 2015/16 and beyond assume the effects of the spending review announced by the Chancellor. Although a projection is given, no actual detail is available to suggest the rate at which the resources available to this council will reduce or whether the reduction will be seen through the retained business rates or through another source of government funding.
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2013/14 £,000 |
2014/15 £,000 |
2015/16 £,000 |
2016/17 £,000 |
2017/18 £,000 |
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Retained Business Rates |
6,895 |
6,404 |
5,589 |
5,170 |
4,782 |
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Collection Fund Adjustment |
32 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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Council Tax |
12,510 |
12,822 |
13,139 |
13,464 |
13,795 |
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Available Resources |
19,437 |
19,226 |
18,728 |
18,634 |
18,577 |
Review of Strategic Projection
When the Cabinet agreed the SRP in July 2012 officers were set the task of continuing to review the budget pressures and identify additional savings to balance the budget. Since that time officers have reviewed all of the pressures outlined in the SRP and it is now proposed that the following amendments should be considered.
a) Lost income from regeneration – this budget reflected the issues being considered for King Street Multi Storey Car Park and the possibility that the asset would be sold and revenue income lost. The decision of cabinet to demolish the car park and provide a surface level car park is estimated to be cost neutral in revenue terms and the budget is no longer required.
b) Local Development Framework – following the decision on strategic sites within the core strategy, the profile of expenditure on the local development framework has been reassessed. It is now clear that while the same level of resources will be required overall, the timing of the funding need has slipped and the resources are now programmed as growth in 2014/15.
c) Safer Maidstone Partnership – this provision was original made during the development of the 2011/12 strategy to offset against grant loss. Growth was approved in the 2012/13 budget strategy however the election of the Police and Crime Commissioner has required a reassessment of the appropriate timing for considering the use of the resource. It would at this time be prudent for the Council to remove the growth item and await the plans and strategies set out by the new commissioner to be published before reconsidering any further action. The council has funded a three year contribution to the domestic violence advise work being coordinated across Kent by the Kent Probation Service. A budget of £16,700 per annum was funded from the Leader’s contingency.
d) Growth provision – this is an annual provision for growth outside of the specific items reported during the development of the annual budget. The resource available in 2012/13 remains an unallocated balance within the Leader’s portfolio and no bids for resources are expected in the remainder of 2012/13. With the full balance available from 2012/13 it is not necessary to resource a new balance in 2013/14.
In addition to the proposed reductions set out in the paragraph above there are two proposed increases in growth pressure and these are detailed below:
a) Pay and contractual commitments – this growth item has seen an increase due to more accurate knowledge in relation to the indices that are used by each service. In general the office of Budget Responsibility has recently published amended growth and inflation rates. At this time it is not proposed to further amend this item as the factors relate to general growth that budget managers will be expected to control rather than contractual growth.
These amendments, taken in conjunction with the revised assessment of resources available to the Council set a requirement to find savings in 2013/14 of £1.2m compared to the £2m requirement set out in the decision of cabinet in July 2012. The values for each year of the SRP are set out in the table below:
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2013/14 £,000 |
2014/15 £,000 |
2015/16 £,000 |
2016/17 £,000 |
2017/18 £,000 |
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Available Resources |
19,437 |
19,226 |
18,728 |
18,634 |
18,577 |
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Projected Requirement |
20,563 |
20,608 |
19,890 |
19,488 |
19,218 |
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Savings Target |
1,126 |
1,382 |
1,162 |
854 |
641 |
The Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee has worked with officers and the Leader of the Council through a budget working group this year. Initial work has been to ensure that the working group is considering the budget strategy with a complete knowledge of the issues and a number of meetings, including briefings have occurred this year. When the committee considers the decisions of the Cabinet, in January 2013, the members of the group will ensure that the debate is informed in depth on the background issues facing the Council.
Review of Savings Proposals
Savings
and efficiency data was not reported in detail to Cabinet in July 2012. The
targets were set out and it was identified that some savings proposals existed,
in the main these came from long term plans developed for the 2011/12 strategy.
The report suggested that, set against
a need to find £2m in savings, plans existed to save £0.6m.
As
stated previously, the revised SRP at Appendix B of the report of Corporate
Leadership Team shows a need to save £1.2m in 2013/14 and attached at Appendix
C to the report of Corporate Leadership Team is a more detailed analysis of the
previously identified savings and other proposals that have been developed by
officers in discussion with Cabinet Members. The value of these proposals, set
against the required need for savings in each of the five years considered by
the revised SRP, are tabled below.
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2013/14 £,000 |
2014/15 £,000 |
2015/16 £,000 |
2016/17 £,000 |
2017/18 £,000 |
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Savings requirement in SRP |
1,126 |
1,382 |
1,162 |
854 |
641 |
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Savings proposals |
1,126 |
788 |
220 |
140 |
0 |
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Savings still required |
0 |
594 |
942 |
714 |
641 |
The savings proposals set out at Appendix C to the report of Corporate Leadership Team include the values reported in the fees and charges report.
New Homes Bonus
Along with the finance settlement that is due to be
announced on 19th December 2012, the DCLG announced the allocation
of New Homes Bonus for the forthcoming year which would be £2.8 million for
Maidstone.
To date the Council has utilised the resources from new
homes bonus payments to support its priorities through regeneration. In the
main resources have been directed to the capital programme with a small sum of
approximately £0.2m being used for one off revenue projects. When cabinet
considered the capital programme in July 2012 it agreed that a sum of £1.8m
from the forthcoming new homes bonus payment be directed to the capital
programme to finance the second phase of the High Street regeneration project.
Tabled
below is the schedule of amounts received and expected along with the amount
already utilised by the Council.
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2011/12 £,000 |
2012/13 £,000 |
2013/14 £,000 |
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2011/12 Allocation |
892 |
892 |
892 |
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2012/13 Allocation |
|
825 |
825 |
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2012/13 Affordable Homes Premium |
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78 |
78 |
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2013/14 Allocation |
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1,045 |
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2013/14 Affordable Homes Premium |
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n/a |
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Receipt |
892 |
1,795 |
2,840 |
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Capital Financing |
892 |
1,615 |
1,800 |
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Revenue Financing |
|
180 |
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Balance remaining |
0 |
0 |
1,040 |
Capital Expenditure
The
capital programme approved by Council in March 2012 has been modified by
Cabinet following the July 2012 report that set out proposals to finance
commercial activity, health and safety works (the demolition of King Street Car
Park) and the enhancement of the Asset Management Programmes. The current
programme and details of available funding are set out in Appendix D to the
report of Corporate Leadership Team.
During the work in developing the strategy for 2012/13 resources were set aside for the funding of any over spend on the Museum East Wing project. This project is nearing completion of the negotiations about the final account and the level of resources that may be required will be known presently. At this time the resources set aside by Cabinet, although not expressly stated, remain within revenue balances in case of need.
At this time the capital programme ends in 2014/15. This issue has been previously considered by Cabinet but a significant number of factors need to be progressed before clarity regarding resources and priorities can be established. In terms of the programme there are three strands:
a) The standard programme including strategic priority projects, housing grants and housing support;
b) The commercialisation proposals;
c) The infrastructure delivery
plan.
In terms of
funding there are three key risks:
a) The viability, long term, of the new homes bonus;
b) The acceptability and affordability of prudential borrowing;
c) The development of a viable community infrastructure levy.
Some of the work required to mitigate the risks or develop the necessary proposals are nearing completion but there is a significant risk of misalignment of priorities within the affordable capital programme if all matters are not resolved before the future programme is agreed.
Capital
Financing
The
funding of the capital programme as agreed by Council in March 2012 is secured,
as detailed in the report considered by Cabinet in July 2012.
In
addition the confirmation of the revised level of prudential borrowing by
Council and the confirmation of the level of new homes bonus by the DCLG should
both occur prior to the meeting of Cabinet. Subject to those confirmations the
revised programme agreed by cabinet in July 2012 is supported by the required
level of resources. Officers can update the cabinet of any unexpected
developments and necessary changes to the considerations set out in this report
at the meeting.
In
addition to the figures provided previously there have been two minor receipts
from Golding Homes from the sale of properties that the Council retains a
contractual benefit from. These receipts increase receipts by a net sum of
£0.16m and are not allocated to any schemes currently within the capital
programme. Cabinet may wish to retain the receipts until the final cost of the
Museum East Wing project is known and funding is agreed.
Balances
The
current level of general fund balance is £4.4m plus provisionally allocated
sums of another £1.5m. After allowing for the proposals considered informally
by Cabinet Members and formally by the Leader of the Council and Corporate
Services overview and Scrutiny, an unallocated general fund balance of £3.6m
remains. A statement of balances is set out in Appendix E to the report of
Corporate Leadership Team that incorporates the use of balances to cover the
value of bids submitted to the Leader of the Council for approval.
For
2012/13 the Council has set a minimum level of balances of £2m and the Cabinet
have agreed to set a working balance of £2.3m below which it is not expected
that the Cabinet will utilise balances. In November the Cabinet agreed to set
aside the sum of £0.5m when considering a report on potential
commercialisation, as a provision against possible scheme failure. This means
that unallocated resources of £0.7m and provisionally allocated resources of
£2m exist.
Earlier
in this decision consideration was given to the Chancellor of the Exchequers
Autumn Statement and the Economic and Fiscal Outlook report of the Office of
Budget Responsibility. Given the significant and detrimental factors facing
local government, as set out in that section of this report, Cabinet should be
mindful of the level of resources and the potential need that the Council may
have for those resources to remain financially stable, before the current economic
situation is resolved.
Consultation
During
the period in which consultation on the budget strategy would normally occur
the local council tax support scheme consultation was ongoing. In order to
minimise potential confusion the budget consultation was delayed. Consultation
must occur before the final consideration of the budget by the Cabinet in
February 2013. The consultation has been designed in a format that will allow
those who wish to respond a choice of responding direct through the website, by
return of a questionnaire or in person when the consultation road show is in
the Gateway.
Due to
the considerable change in the method of central funding of local authorities
this year through the retention of business rates and the national coverage
that suggests that 50% of business rates will be retained by local authorities
it is important that consultation and briefings occur with local business. This
work will be undertaken through the business meetings held by the Economic
Development Manager.
The results
of all of this work will be incorporated into the report to the Cabinet in
February 2013 to enable consideration of the responses prior to a
recommendation to the Council.
Medium Term Financial Strategy and Strategic Plan
The
Strategic Plan refresh is reported to Cabinet elsewhere on this agenda. It
provides feedback on the achievement of the outcomes required to achieve the
priorities of the Council and gives Cabinet an opportunity to consider update
actions and outcomes. It is essential that cabinet consider the Strategic Plan
and this budget strategy at the same time as the information provided by the
budget strategy enables Cabinet to consider the resourcing available for
achievement of the proposed outcomes and provides the opportunity for cabinet
to amend either resourcing proposals or outcomes to balance plans and resources
appropriately.
As the DCLG had not announced the finance settlement for 2013/14 at the time of writing this report the MTFS statement has not been updated and for that reason is not appended to this report.
Alternatives considered and why rejected
The production of the budget is an element of the statutory
process of setting the council tax each year. In addition the final document
and budget is required to be robust and adequate under the Local government Act
2003 and the Chief Financial Officer is required to give a statement to that
fact. On this basis the actions outlined in this report must be considered and
a balanced budget ultimately set by March 2013.
A number of the assumptions set out in the report of
Corporate Leadership Team remain uncertain and alternative options are
possible. The main examples include:
a) The level of business rates that may be retained by the Council. At this time the estimate is based on the most up to date information and is reasonably in line with national commentators’ assumptions. By the time cabinet consider this report it may well be possible to update the meeting with the provisional settlement figures.
b) The calculation used to distribute the LCTS Scheme funding between the Council and the parishes. This proposal is based upon the value of the actual loss by each council and is considered to be the fairest methodology for all.
c) The indices used to calculate future inflation and contractual commitment. These indices have been recently updated and a revised set of assumptions could be developed, however the level of change likely to occur is not significant and it is proposed that current resources will be re-prioritised if the level of growth allowed is insufficient
Background Papers
None
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