Agenda and minutes

The Chair reminded those present that the meeting was being live-streamed and recorded and would be made available following the meeting via the Council’s website – Click Here to View.  Members were advised that voting on decisions would be taken via Microsoft Forms. 

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors D. Cushing, D.T. Davies, N. Dix,

C. Elsbury, K. Etheridge, J. Fussell, D.C. Harse, A. Leonard, J. Jones, J. Rao, J. Reed,

J. Sadler, J. Scriven, S. Skivens, J. Taylor, C. Thomas and W. Williams.

Councillors and Officers are reminded of their personal responsibility to declare any personal and/or prejudicial interest(s) in respect of any item of business on this agenda in accordance with the Local Government Act 2000, the Council’s Constitution and the Code of Conduct for both Councillors and Officers.

Councillor C. Cuss sought clarification on whether he needed to declare an interest in relation to the draft proposals around community centres funding, as he is a committee member of three community centres.  It was confirmed that as no decision was being taken at the meeting, Councillor Cuss could fully participate in the proceedings, although he might  wish to raise the query when the final budget proposals are presented to Council to be voted upon by Members.

There were no declarations of interest received at the commencement or during the course of the meeting. 

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance presented the report, which asked the Joint Scrutiny Committee to consider and comment upon the draft budget proposals for the 2023/24 financial year as part of the consultation process prior to a final decision by Council on 23rd February 2023.   It was noted that the Draft Budget Proposals for 2023/24 had been presented to the meeting of Cabinet on 18th January 2023.

The report provided details of draft budget proposals based on the Welsh Government (WG) Provisional Local Government Financial Settlement for 2023/24. The report also provided details of a range of cost and service pressures that require funding, details of proposed savings and the use of reserves, along with a proposed increase of 7.90% in Council Tax to enable the Council to set a balanced budget for the 2023/24 financial year.  An updated indicative Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) was also appended to the report showing a potential savings requirement of £48.047m for the two-year period 2024/25 to 2025/26.

In cash terms, the 6.9% increase in the Provisional Settlement for Caerphilly CBC

provides additional funding of £22.152m for 2023/24, which is of course welcomed, but is well below the current unprecedented levels of inflation and the Council faces cost pressures totalling £55.771m for 2023/24 alone through a combination of pay and non-pay inflationary pressures and a range of inescapable service pressures.  Whilst the proposals in the report present a balanced financial position for 2023/24, a significant element of this is being achieved through one-off measures including £6.862m of temporary savings and £15.051m through the use of reserves. These temporary one-off measures totalling £29.913m will only support the budget for 2023/24, but they do provide some essential breathing space to identify, agree and implement permanent savings.  The 2024/25 financial year will be a significant challenge for the Council and it is vital that an early start is made to identify proposals to address the financial shortfall.

The draft budget proposals also include a proposed increase of 7.9% in Council Tax for the 2023/24 financial year, which will result in a Band C annual increase of £99.06 or weekly increase of £1.91.  It was emphasised that even with this level of increase, Caerphilly Council is likely to have the second lowest level of Council Tax in the whole of Wales.

Due to the unprecedented levels of inflation, the current economic outlook, and the range of temporary measures that are proposed for the 2024 2324 financial year, it is clear that the Council will continue to face significant challenges moving forward.  With this in mind, the Medium-Term Financial Plan has been updated based on a range of assumptions, resulting in a potential savings requirement of £48.047m for the two-year period 2024/25 to 2025/26.  Given the scale of the challenges being faced, a salami-slicing approach to services is not sustainable or appropriate, especially when the demands upon services are far higher than ever.  To ensure that the needs of communities are met by operating with reduced finances,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.