Purpose

Cabinet is recommended to recommend to Full
Council that the projected budget for 2024/25 is approved;

Content

Cabinet:

(1)           
recommended to Full Council that the Waltham Forest
basic amount of council tax, including the levying bodies, will be
increased by 2.99% in 2024/25;

(2)           
recommended to Full Council that the 2% permitted increase for
Adult Social Care will be applied bringing the total increase to
4.99% and resulting in a council tax of £1,702.32 per Band D
property in 2024/25;

(3)           
noted that the element of council tax charged by the Greater London
Authority will be £471.40 per Band D property in 2024/25
which reflects an increase of £37.26 (8.58%);

(4)           
recommended to Full Council that the overall council tax to be set
for 2024/25 will be £2,173.72 per Band D property, which
represents an overall increase of 5.75%;

(5)           
recommended to Full Council that the projected budget (as set out
in Appendix 1 to the report) for 2024/25 of £474.969 million
is approved;

(6)           
considered and noted the whole of the Strategic Director of
Resources report made under Section 25 of the Local Government Act
2003 as set out in Appendix 2 to the report and, in particular,
their determination in the Financial Implications of this report on
“the robustness of the estimates made for the purposes of the
calculations, and the adequacy of the proposed financial
reserves”;

(7)           
noted the amount of 81,322 (an increase of 1,201 over the previous
year), as the Council Tax Base for the Council for 2024/25, in
accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation
of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 made under the Local
Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended);

(8)           
recommended to Full Council that the
following amounts be approved for 2024/25 in accordance with
sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Act 1992, as amended (the
Act):

(a)             
Gross Expenditure
£1,043.416 million – being the aggregate of the
amounts which the council estimates for the items in Sections 31A
(2) of the Act;

(b)             
Gross Income
£904.980 million
– being the aggregate of the amounts which the council
estimates for the items in Sections 31A (3) of the Act;

(c)              
Net Expenditure
£138.436 million
– being the amounts by which the aggregate at (a), exceeds
the aggregate at (b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance
with Section 31A (4) of the Act as its council tax requirement for
the year;

(d)             
LBWF Basic Amount of Council Tax including the Adult Social Care
Precept
£1,702.32 –
being the amount at (c) above, divided by 81,322 (the Council Tax
Base), calculated by the Council in accordance with Section
31B(1) of the Act, as the basic amount
of its council tax for the year and includes the Adult Social Care
Precept of £246.00.

(e)             
 Valuation Bands

Band

 

    A

    B

    C

    D

    E

    F

    G

    H

Basic

£

     970.88

  1,132.70

  1,294.51

  1,456.32

  1,779.94

  2,103.58

  2,427.20

  2,912.64

Social Care

£

     164.00

     191.33

     218.67

     246.00

     300.67

     355.33

     410.00

     492.00

Total LBWF

£

  1,134.88

  1,324.03

  1,513.18

  1,702.32

  2,080.61

  2,458.91

  2,837.20

  3,404.64

 
being the amounts given
by multiplying the amount at (d) above by the number which, in the
proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the 1992 Act, is applicable
to dwellings listed in a particular valuation band, divided by the
number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed
in Valuation Band D, calculated by the Council, in accordance with
Section 36(1) of the 1992 Act, as the amounts to be taken into
account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed
in different valuation bands;

(f)               
noted that’s for 2024/25 the Greater London Assembly (GLA)
has stated that (with formal ratification on 22 February 2024) that
the following amounts in precepts be issued to the Council in
accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Act 1992 for
each of the categories of dwellings shown below;

Band

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

Total

£

314.27

366.64

419.02

471.40

576.16

680.91

785.67

 942.80

(g)             
recommended to Full Council, that, having calculated the aggregate
in each case of the amounts at (e) and (f) above, the Council, in
accordance with Section 30(2) of the Local Government Finance Act
1992 sets the following amounts of council tax for 2024/25 for each
of the categories of dwellings shown:

Band

 

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

Total

£

1,449.15

1,690.67

1,932.20

2,173.72

2,656.77

3,139.82

3,622.87

4,347.44

(h)             
noted that the relevant basic amount of council tax for a Band D
property (excluding precepts but now including levies) for the
financial year 2024/25 be £1,702.32, which reflects a 2.99%
increase, plus 2% Adult Social Care precept permitted increase for
2024/25 and therefore does not require a referendum;

 

(9)           
agreed that the Strategic Director of Resources and the officers
nominated by him be authorised to finalise the necessary publicity
as required by Section 38 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992
and to promote the first day of the month instalment dates, and the
six date options within each month for Direct Debit payers, as
previously agreed;

 

(10)       
noted that in order to ensure the required period of notice is
given, council taxpayers will be requested to pay their instalments
on the first of each month commencing on 1 April 2024;

(11)       
agreed, in accordance with the Council Tax (Empty
Dwellings) Act 2018, to continue to maintain the maximum percentage
allowed by current legislation for the empty home’s premium
from 1 April 2024;

(12)       
agreed in accordance with the Levelling Up and
Regeneration Act 2023 (Clause 76) to charge a premium of 100% on
dwellings that have been empty for one year from 1 April
2024;

(13)       
agreed in accordance with the Levelling Up and
Regeneration Act 2023 (Clause 77) to give notice of the intention
to charge a premium of 100% on dwellings which are
“substantially furnished” but have no
“resident” (e.g., second homes) from 1 April
2025;

(14)       
agreed for the purposes of calculating entitlement to Housing
Benefit, any war disablement pension, war widow’s or war
widower’s pension which would otherwise be treated as income
for the purposes of calculating entitlement to housing benefit
should be disregarded in its entirety.

(15)       
agreed to the inclusion of collection fund surpluses
and deficits (as per paragraphs 6.21 and 6.22 of the report) within
the budget from 1st April 2024 which have previously
been transferred to the taxation fluctuation reserve;

(16)       
agreed the Capital Programme for 2023-2034 as set out in Appendix 9
of the report;

(17)       
agreed the reserves strategy at Appendix 6 of the report and noted
that the Strategic Director of Resources has delegated
responsibility for the use of reserves throughout the year;

(18)       
recommended to Full Council the amended fees and
charges for 2024/25 as shown in Appendix 5 of the report;

(19)       
agreed funding of £2.518 million, as the
initial mobilisation investment, to drive forward work across the
12 identified transformation areas. The purpose of this investment
is to; (1) begin to unlock any immediate savings opportunities
related to each programme, (2) mobilise each programme through an
initial discovery and design phase, including the development of
robust business cases targeted at broader financial sustainability,
and (3) ensure overall leadership and assurance across the
programmes to enable monitoring and tracking of benefits and
impact; and

(20)       
reconfirmed that on winding up of the Mears JV (More Homes Waltham
Forest LLP) once any outstanding debt financing relating to the
assets has been cleared the Balance of the Capital Return
Allocation be transferred or paid to the London Borough of Waltham
Forest Pension Fund. This is required to be reconfirmed annually
within the budget report by the fund actuaries noting the original
decision was made in February 2019 Council meeting.

 

Options & Alternatives Considered

The Council has a legal duty to set a
balanced budget and to develop a financial strategy for the medium
term.  The revised MTFS sets out
potential challenges facing the Council in future
years.

The Council is creating a new
Transformation programme to address any future financial challenge,
including the MTFS gap in 2025/26 and 2026/27.  Therefore, any recommendations from this programme
will feature in future reports to Cabinet over the next
year.