Council accounts and budget

As part of the December 2015 Spending Review, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government made an offer to councils to take up a four-year funding settlement for the period 2016/17 to 2019/20.

To accept this offer, an efficiency plan must be prepared and published by 14 October 2016. Accepting the funding offer would allow some certainty over a significant part of the council’s future resources and allow the council to create medium term financial planning targets with greater certainty over the amount required to balance the budget.

Cabinet on 19 July 2016 agreed that the council should formally accept the four-year settlement and that the council submits the April Cabinet Ambition 2020 report to DCLG as its efficiency plan.

Medium term financial strategy - update report 19 07 16 (PDF, 124 KB)

Cabinet decision to accept the four-year funding settlement

Financial pressures

Population and demographic changes have had a severe impact on demand for services, adding to the huge financial challenge the council already faces.

Demand for services will continue to increase as the population changes but the reductions in funding imposed by central government will make it impossible to meet those demands. Without a change in approach, we would not be able to meet the most basic needs of our residents.

By 2020 the cuts in funding mean that the council will have roughly half the amount of money that we had to spend in 2010. The combined impacts of austerity, population change and government policy mean that we can no longer afford to meet the needs of our residents by spending more money on the kinds of services we currently provide.

Instead we need to re-focus what we do so that we identify the root cause of need and tackle it, so that people have a better chance of living more independently. Our job must be to build resilience so that people are better able to help themselves.

The council officially launched its A2020 transformation plan in summer 2015 designed to create a sustainable organisation that can:

live within its means
tackle the challenges the borough faces
respond to the Growth Commission findings
deliver our council’s vision.

A2020 efficiency plan (PDF, 1.92 MB)

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Council accounts and budget

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Budget books

Annual statement of accounts

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2021-22

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Previous published accounts

Statement of the government's four-year funding settlement offer

Financial pressures

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