Purpose

Cabinet is recommended to:

(1)  Note the forecast outturn position for Revenue, HRA and DSG; and  

(2)  Approve the current forecast for the Capital Programme.

Decision

Cabinet:

(1)          noted the forecast outturn position for Revenue, HRA and DSG as at month 3;

(2)          noted the 2026/27 forecast for the Capital Programme compared to budget and includes additions of £16.521m approved following the July 2026 Budget, is net of deletions/virements of £9.408m, and slippage/accelerations of £34.310m to future years;

(3)          noted the total Capital Programme forecast of £612.520m compared to Budget which includes £25.159m approved following the July 2026 Budget and is net of deletions of £8.953m in Appendix 3 of the report;

(4)          noted the Capital Programme funding and forecast movement additions, slippages, accelerations, virements and deletions in Appendix 2 and 3 of the report;

(5)          approved the Capital Programme forecast budget and funding of £612.520m including the current year forecast budget of £161.438m in Appendix 3 of the report. 

(6)          noted the current forecast for the use of reserves by Services is £5.067m and projected top up of reserves of £0.113m, and this has been built into the overall forecast spend;

(7)          noted the current level of debt across the Council (£40.314m);

(8)          approved the request for funding for an additional political officer of £0.058m, to be funded from contingency in the current year and then built into the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for future years;

(9)          approved the request for additional funding of £0.150m, for three additional posts to be created within the debt team, which will be funded from the contingency in the current year and reviewed for future years dependent on the level of success in reducing debt;

(10)       approved the additional budget for housing incentives of £2.055m, to be funded from the contingency in 2026/27 and to be built into the MTFS for 2027/28 onwards. (See Paragraph 7.16 in Appendix 1 of the report);

(11)       approved a request for additional funding to cover the cost of temporary posts in the Communications team whilst the new structure is being embedded. The cost is expected to be in the region of £0.070m and will be funded from the contingency in 2026/27; and

(12)       approved the change control requests for savings for PL01 (10-year lease for eligible temporary accommodation unit managing overspend saving) which has been reduced from £3.000m to £2.109m as per section 11 of Appendix 1 of the report (from £2.250m 2026/27 & £0.750m 2027/28 to £0.130m 2026/27, £1.495m 2027/28 & £0.484m 2028/29). 

Options & Alternatives Considered

Much of this report is concerned with provision of information, for which alternative options is not a relevant consideration.