Purpose

To consider the report by the Cabinet Member
for Finance & Corporate Services on the rebasing of the Medium
Term Financial Strategy

Decision

(i) 
To approve the rebasing amendments to the MTFS and set out in
Appendix 1.
(ii) 
To agree the revised medium term financial forecast after the
quarter 1 review and rebasing exercise for the period 2024/25 to
2028/29 and MTFS update commentary as set put in Appendix 1.
(iii) 
To agree in year savings that are transformation related and
recurrent in nature, a budget adjustment will be completed to
remove the budget once there is evidence of achievement. This will
be completed on a quarterly basis and used to offset the
Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) requirement.
(iv) 
To agree the next steps to developing the MTFS and creating a
balanced budget including further developing the business planning
framework to deliver savings going forward.

Reasons for the decision

This report details a rebasing the MTFS to set
the base year to 2024/25. Cabinet is being asked to approve the
amendments to the MTFS from this exercise and to note the
commentary provided.

Alternative options considered

Not reviewing previously agreed budget
adjustments included in the MTFS is not considered appropriate
because this may result in the double counting of transformation
savings with existing budget reductions or retention of budget
increases that will not be required in the light of remodelled
services. It would also result in a lack of clarity for members and
budget holders over what is contained within the budget going
forward.