Agenda item

The Interim Chief Finance Officer (Section 151 Officer), Bromsgrove District (BDC) and Redditch Borough (RBC) Councils, introduced the report and highlighted that through the legal requirement between the partner authorities, the WRS was required to set its revenue budget by 1 December each year. It was noted that the report appendices provided detail on the WRS Budget 2026/27 to 2028/29, the breakdown of Partner Contributions for 2026/27 to 2028/29, and Budgeted Income for WRS in 2026/27.

A Member expressed disappointment that partner contributions had increased again for 2026/27 and queried if the WRS maximised its commercial opportunities. The Director of WRS responded that the service had set high expectations for the performance of staff and Members were reassured that Officers worked hard to maximise income. It was noted that in 2017 the WRS Board was approached, and approved, an additional post within the Service and it was highlighted that WRS reached break-even position by mid-2018 and delivered income since. It was noted that WRS had reached capacity in terms of income generation it could achieve based on the current staffing level.

A Member queried why partner authorities did not pay equal contributions to the budget or had equal allocations from the budget but received varying levels of contributions. The Director of WRS responded that this was a historic arrangement in place since commencement of the partnership and the WRS Board in 2010, whereby the percentage paid by each partner authority was based on the revenue budget which each partner contributed to the collective budget at that time. This was reviewed in 2013/14, at the end of the initial business case period for WRS and minor changes were made, but not subsequently, although officers had discussed options.

A question was raised about the financial reserves held by WRS and in what way they could be utilised. The Director of WRS explained that the majority of the reserve originated when Worcestershire County Council (WCC) left the WRS partnership arrangement. It was noted that the major reserves in place were designed to provide a buffer for the partner authorities in case of any unanticipated overspends.

The Technical Services Manager, WRS, further clarified that smaller earmarked reserves were utilised in areas such as air quality work. It was remarked that the WRS arrangement would likely not continue under if one unitary authority model was established as a result of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). As such it was commented by some Members that it might be beneficial for WRS reserves to be invested prior to LGR vesting day when the partner authorities were still in place, to limit the impact of additional costs on the partners at this time.

A Member asked whether renewal of relationship and partnership arrangements with Worcestershire County Council (WCC) was actively explored provided that either a one- or two-unitary council arrangement would be introduced into Worcestershire through the LGR. The Director of WRS explained that WRS already managed trading standards for WCC and had good working relationship with Director of Public Health at WCC, under whom the service sits. The Director added that he continued to pose the question of WCC rejoining the partnership at an appropriate point in time.

A question was asked about benchmarking financial performance against similar-sized authorities. It was responded that it was difficult to compare performance with other authorities as the WRS arrangement was unique – there were no other areas that had shared regulatory services at district level on this scale.

A typographical error was highlighted in the table on page 31 of the agenda pack in that the figure for Wyre Forest District Council in the column for 2026/27 Increase in Rent was incorrectly recorded as 0 (£’000), and it should read 0.5 (£’000).

The recommendations as printed were approved by the Board.

RESOLVED that the Board:

1.1   Approve the 2026/27 gross expenditure budget of £5,357,000 as shown in Appendix 1.

1.2   Approve the 2026/27 income budget of £1,064,000 as shown in Appendix 1.

1.3   Approve the revenue budget and partner percentage allocations for 2026/27 onwards:

1.4   Approve the additional partner liabilities for 2026/27 in relation to unavoidable salary pressure:

1.5   Approve the additional partner liabilities for 2026/27 in relation to increase in hosting costs:

1.6   Approve the additional partner liabilities for 2026/27 in relation to additional Technical Officers: