Purpose

To receive the information that will enable members to develop draft 2026/27 Budget and 2026-31 Medium Term Financial Strategy proposals, taking into account the information and advice presented in this report, before a final decision is made at Full Council on 5 February 2026.

Decision

Resolved

That Cabinet

1)    Develop its draft 2026/27 Budget and 2026-31 Medium Term Financial Strategy, taking into account the information, options and advice of Corporate Board, as presented in this report and noting the remaining uncertainties about the Local Government Finance Settlement expected later this month;

2)    Authorise Corporate Board to begin any preparatory work necessary to deliver the budget options, prior to the final full Council decision on the budget on 5 February 2026; and

3)    Notes that there are considerable remaining uncertainties set out in paragraph 1.4 and section 2, which will lead to more changes to the numbers in this paper than is usual at this stage of the process. These will be reported to Cabinet in January and arise from awaiting the provisional local government finance settlement (due week commencing 15 December) which will cover three years, be based on the Fair Funding reforms and address how SEND deficits are to be resolved.