Issue - meetings

To consider the recommendations from the meeting of the Cabinet held on 19^th November 2025.

Council considered the outstanding recommendations arising from the meeting of Cabinet held on 19^th November 2025.

Medium Term Financial Plan Budget Update and Consultation Report

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented the Stage One update of Bromsgrove District Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for 2026/27 to 2028/29, alongside the proposed budget consultation.

This report was presented to the Finance and Budget Working Group on 17^th November 2025 and subsequently at a Cabinet meeting on 19^th November 2025.

The report detailed the financial landscape including any significant challenges and the strategy to ensure financial stability for the District.

As in previous years, the budget-setting process was split into two stages:

-        Stage One: This was based on known data up to December 2025 and was presented at this Council meeting.

-        Stage Two: Was to be finalised in January 2026 and approved in February 2026, following the Local Government Finance Settlement.

Members were informed that the Stage One budget report presented to Cabinet had highlighted a challenging financial position for the upcoming years. The forecast included an approved MTFP position as agreed at full Council in February 2025. At this time, the Council had a projected deficit of just under £1million pounds for the fiscal year 2026- 27 and a projected deficit of just under £400,000 for the fiscal year 2027-28.

There were five key factors which influenced these deficit projections. The first being inflationary pressures. It was reported that the Council had experienced increased costs due to inflation. In June 2024, the rate of inflation in the UK was 2 per cent. This peaked at 3.8 per cent in July, August, and September 2025. Whilst there was a welcome fall to 3.6 percent in October, the rate was stubbornly high and above the government target.

The second factor was pay awards. A high proportion of the Council’s costs were salaries and on costs such as pensions and National Insurance contributions. Nationally agreed pay awards had not been fully funded by the Government.

The third impact was a reduction in grant funding. Anticipated reductions in grant funding continued to contribute to the budget gap. The provisional impact of the Fairer Funding Review was still ongoing.

Finally, Local Governement Reorganisation (LGR) would inevitably impact on budgets going forward. The move towards unitary authorities in Worcestershire would significantly alter the local government finance landscape in 2026-27. Consequently, the Council needed to be mindful that the Reserves formed part of this proposal,and any use would need to be factored into the budget setting process.

It was reported that the Council had developed a new budget timetable and would take a strategic approach over the coming months. Financial reporting was now all up to date. However, the accounts were still to be audited.

The Council was adapting its operations to be more sustainable in response to economic and environmental conditions.

One of the key components of the budget process was public consultation which started on 20^th November 2025 and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 73