Purpose

This report gives details of performance against the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy Statement 2025/26..

Decision

That Cabinet notes:

1)  The Treasury Management Outturn 2025/26 Report, prepared in accordance with the CIPFA Treasury Code of Practice; and

2)  The Treasury Management Prudential Indicators to 31st March 2026.

Reasons for the decision

The Council approved the Treasury Management Strategy 2025/26 at its meeting on 25 February 2025. The Council ended the year with total borrowing of £288.977m and total investments of £31.300m as at 31 March 2026.

The Council’s Treasury Management Prudential Indicators for 2025/26 were agreed by Council on 25 February 2025 and performance against these indicators is shown in Appendix 1 to the report. All indicators are within target levels.

The average rate of return on operational investments for the period 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026 is 4.03%, which is 0.07% above the 7 Day Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA) benchmark rate of 3.96%. For the same period, it is that strategic investments earned 4.18% which is 0.17% below the budgeted return of 4.25%.

The Council’s revenue budget outturn position for interest & capital financing costs for 2025/26 is £2.087m under budget and is included within the Revenue & Capital Outturn 2025/26 report to Cabinet on 2 July 2026. This variance is due to a combination of lower rates achieved on new borrowing when compared to budgeted rates, higher rates earned on investments than budgeted, and a lower Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) charge, reflecting the rephasing of capital projects. The breakdown of the 2025/26 revenue budget for interest and capital financing, and the final year-end position, is included in Appendix 6 to the report.

Alternative options considered

None.