Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided details of the provisional local government settlement announced by the Secretary of State on 13 December 2018 together with the impact on the Council’s proposed budget for 2019/20 as underpinned by the Core Spending Power calculation, as set out in table 1 to the report.

It was noted that a number of funding announcements had been made which could have significant implications for setting the 2019/20 revenue budget. These were set out at section 3 of the report and included additional government funding for Social Care and to support children with Special Educational Needs.

The report advised that because Kent and Medway Authorities had not been included in the Business Rates Retention pilots for next year, Medway would have to return to the 50% scheme and revert from being a ‘tariff’ Authority, back to receiving a ‘top up’ grant. It was explained that in addition to the amounts shown in Table 1 of the report, Medway would receive a one-off allocation of £727,831 which would be funded from the Government’s surplus on the Business Rates Retention levy/safety net account.

The report also stated that the Council Tax referendum limit remained at 3% and Medway’s Draft Budget assumed that Council Tax would be increased in line with this. The updated tax base underpinning the preparation of the budget was currently being calculated and, in accordance with the Employee Scheme of Delegation, set out within the Council’s Constitution, would be signed off by the Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Leader, at the end of January 2019.

The report also provided details of the impact on other grants, set out at sections 6 to 10 of the report.

Reasons:

These provisional levels of grant are a fundamental component of the 2019/20 budget, and their announcement is a further stage in the process of preparing a balanced budget.