This meeting of the full council includes an update on the council's financial situation, and the budget for the next financial year. It includes plans to increase council tax by 8.99% and to change how much help some people can get paying council tax. It also schedules discussion of whether to confer the Honorary Freedom of the Borough on Lyn Brown and Paulette Watson MBE.

Budget

The draft budget for 2025/26 is being presented for approval. It closes a £84 million budget gap through a mix of savings, council tax increases, and use of money from selling some of the council's buildings.

The report states that the council is facing a number of financial pressures. These include increased demand for Temporary Accommodation, with the council predicting a further 50 new households needing this every month from April 2025, costing £52.4 million. The report also states that the amount of money awarded to residents through Housing Benefit is expected to be £2 million higher than the subsidy the council receives from the Government for those payments.

To close the budget gap, £32.2 million of savings are proposed for the next financial year, with £79.4 million planned over the next three years. Appendix A to the report pack lists and describes 41 savings proposals, including:

• selling the Debden Centre to raise money and cut running costs
• increasing fees and charges by 20% across a range of council services
• cutting the amount of money in the Community Grants Programme, the Enrichment Programme and the budget for Youth Empowerment
• ending the provision of celebratory street decorations and lighting
• introducing a £50 surcharge on all resident parking permits for diesel vehicles

The report also proposes a council tax increase of 8.99%, which would raise an extra £16.1 million. The report states that even with this increase, Newham would still have the lowest council tax in outer London, and one of the lowest in all London boroughs.

The council tax increase includes a 2% increase for the Adult Social Care precept¹ which the Government allows councils to implement.

Council Tax Reduction Scheme

Changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme are also being presented for approval. The scheme reduces how much working-age residents on low incomes have to pay towards their council tax bill.

The following changes are being proposed:

• Reducing the maximum level of support from 90% to 80%. This means residents would have to pay at least 20% of their bill.
• Increasing the amount of income that is disregarded when working out support from 20% to 25%. This means that for every extra £1 of income above the threshold a resident will see their support reduced by 25p.
• Removing all earnings disregards. These currently reduce the amount of income from employment and self-employment the council uses to work out CTR.
• Reducing the capital limit from £16,000 to £6,000. This means that residents with capital worth more than £6,000 would no longer be eligible for CTR.
• Increasing non-dependent deductions by 10%. This increases the amount by which a household's CTR is reduced if another adult is living with them.

These changes would save the council £2.9 million each year. The report states that a consultation was carried out on the proposals, with a majority of residents rejecting a reduction in maximum support to 70%. However, more than half of respondents supported a reduction to 80% as is now being proposed.

The consultation findings also showed that residents were unhappy about increasing the income taper to 30% and so this is now proposed to be set at 25%.

Capital Strategy

The capital strategy² sets out the council's plans for investing in new buildings, equipment and other assets. It proposes spending of £526.6 million during 2025/26. The majority of this (£407.6 million) will need to be borrowed.

A key area of investment is the acquisitions programme, which buys homes to use as Temporary Accommodation. This year’s budget proposes spending £70.4 million to buy more homes, with £35.7 million set to be borrowed.

Members Allowances

The council will also consider the Members’ Allowances Scheme for the next financial year.

The report pack proposes using the recommendations from the London Councils’ Independent Remuneration Panel. These include increasing the Basic Allowance for councillors to £15,960 and introducing a range of changes to Special Responsibility Allowances for councillors with special responsibilities. The Independent Remuneration Panel also recommends increasing all allowances in line with pay settlements for council staff.

However, the Constitution Review Working Group, which includes councillors from all three political parties, has recommended freezing all allowances and aligning current SRAs with the bands set out by the Independent Remuneration Panel. This means that councillors with special responsibilities may see their allowance decrease.

The report pack also includes the Minutes of the Previous Meetings held on 16th December 2024, the Budget Scrutiny Commission’s Budget Scrutiny Report 2025 and the Executive Response to Budget Scrutiny Report 2025.