This meeting sees Rochdale Council's Cabinet return to their revenue and capital budgets for 2025/26, after deferring them at their last meeting. They will also discuss updates to the Dedicated Schools Grant - High Needs Block, a financial update about the Council's wholly-owned development company Upperbanks, and the performance of the Property Growth Fund.

Revenue Budget Update 2025/26 to 2027/28

The report pack contains a proposed revenue budget for 2025/26. A number of mitigating actions, like a 4.99% increase to Council Tax, are included in order to reduce a forecast budget gap of £25.097m in 2025/26. The report says this gap has increased from the budget gap of £2.414m that was approved by the Council in February 2024. The largest increases come from Adult Care Pressure, with a £6m pressure in each of the three years, and Add Back Original Efficiency Targets, with a £3.17m pressure in 2025/26, rising to £7.12m in 2026/27 and 2027/28.

The budget gap is proposed to be reduced to £5.887m, with mitigating actions including a contingency of £1.2m per year for Adult Social Care Growth, business rates growth, a £1m reduction to the provision for budget pressures, and budget efficiencies, some of which require consultation.

The report pack says the updated budget gap for the three years is:

	2025/26	2026/27	2027/28
Budget Gap	£5.887m	£15.018m	£24.678m

Adult Social Care Savings

This private report contains proposals for budget savings within Adult Social Care. The document proposes an initial £1.25m of savings in 2025/26, rising to £1.75m in 2026/27 and 2027/28. A further £0.5m of income generation is proposed in 2025/26 and 2026/27, rising to £1.75m in 2027/28.

These savings are said to be derived from a combination of existing initiatives and the commissioning of new service models that aim to deliver care at a lower cost.

A key source of savings is said to be a reduction in Market Factor Supplements, which are:

identified when a person’s fee exceeds their Resource Allocation (RAS) /indicative budget and it is perceived that the provider may be making excessive profit by charging significantly more than is necessary.

The document says that these supplements are paid to circa 120 people, and will be checked against the Care Cubed financial model.

Capital Programme 2025/26 to 2029/30

A proposed capital programme for 2025/26 is included in the reports pack for consultation, with provisional capital programmes for 2026/27 to 2029/30. The total proposed capital expenditure is £176.652m in 2025/26. This is proposed to be funded from Prudential Borrowing, Government Grants, Prudential Borrowing (Invest to Save), other grants, Revenue Contribution to Capital Outlay, General Capital receipts and Contributions.

New Capital Schemes for 2025/26 are proposed at a total cost of £3.504m.

The report notes the revenue impacts of both this new borrowing, and a recent review of existing schemes. Overall, the reports pack says:

The proposed capital programme provides a net saving of £0.984m in 2025/26, £0.330m in 2026/27, and £0.042m in 2027/28.

Children’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)

This report proposes budget savings within Children's Services from 2025/26 onwards, predominantly through the creation of in-house provision for children in care. £1.2m of savings are proposed for 2025/26, rising to £2.4m in each of the subsequent two years.

Discretionary Fees & Charges 2025/26

The report pack contains proposed changes to the Council's Discretionary Fees and Charges from 1 April 2025, and proposes they be put out for consultation. A general increase of 2% is proposed to the majority of fees, although a number of exemptions are proposed.

The document suggests the following exemptions:

• Allotments – The small plot allotment fee will remain unchanged
• Public Protection – The Primary Authority Agreement fee will remain at £95
• Street Trading – All fees will remain unchanged
• Taxi Licences – All fees will remain unchanged
• Liability Orders – The existing charges will remain
• Blue Badges – The existing charges will remain
• Local Land Charges – The existing charges will remain
• Traffic Regulation Orders – The charges for Temporary Carnivals, fetes and similar events to non-profit organisations will remain unchanged.
• Car Parking – The existing charges will remain
• Car Boot Sales – The existing charges will remain

Fees for the following are proposed to be increased by more than 2%:

• Allotments – The large plot allotment fee will be increased by 4%
• Reclaimation of Stray Dogs – Fees will increase by 9.24%
• Animal Licenses Variation Fee – Fees will increase by 60.38%
• Town Hall Charges – charges for Standard Tours, Tea Dances and Organ Hire will be increased to rates higher than those proposed in the Town Hall's business model.

A number of new discretionary fees for fishing lodges are also proposed.

Dedicated Schools Grant - High Needs Block Update

This report is not included in the reports pack, however its title suggests it will update the Cabinet on the state of the Dedicated Schools Grant for pupils with high needs. This grant is provided to local authorities in order to fund special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision, particularly for pupils with more complex needs. The document may also discuss the Schools Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant, which funds schools' core budgets.

Upperbanks Trading Companies - Financial Update Q2 24/25

This report contains a financial update for Upperbanks, a development company wholly-owned by Rochdale Council. The report is not available to the public.

Property Growth Fund Performance & Risk - Q2 2024/25

The report pack says this report will provide an update on the performance of the Council's Property Growth Fund. The Property Growth Fund is an investment fund which finances the acquisition and development of property, with the aims of:

strategic regeneration, business growth, job creation and enhancing social or economic value, with secondary aims of portfolio diversification and the achievement of a financial return.

The fund aims to cover its costs, fund its maintenance, and provide for fluctuations in income.

Touchstones Project

This report is not included in the reports pack, but its title suggests it will discuss plans for Touchstones Rochdale, an arts and heritage centre in Rochdale.

Corner Plot

This report is not available to the public and we do not know what will be discussed.