Purpose

The report gives an update on the Council’s finances for Q1 of the financial year 2026/27. It sets out the latest forecasts for both the Council’s day-to-day spending (revenue) and investment in long term projects (capital).

Decision

DECISION: The Cabinet agreed to:

      I.         Approve the realignment of £7.3m from corporate underspends to Adult Social Care, Housing General Fund, Environment & Communities and Education reflecting structural changes in the budget required since the budget was set in February 2026 (as detailed in table 4).

    II.         Reduce the in-year capital pipeline budget by £3m and use that capacity to fund transformation expenditure currently budgeted to be funded by revenue, to protect reserves.

   III.         Request Full Council approval to use £3m of capital receipts to fund transformation expenditure (of which £2m is Digital Services and £1m is corporate transformation) if required at year end to protect reserves, under the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts provisions.

  IV.         Accept the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s allocation of £22.537m under Round 4 of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF), to support delivery of 106 homes over the four-year period (see paragraphs 13.5 to 13.8).