Agenda item

Budget Report 2025/26 and Medium Term Financial Plan 2025/26 to 2029/30

Council to set the Revenue Budget and Council Tax for the 2025/26 financial year. It also updates the Council’s 5-year Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) in the light of those decisions.

Minutes:

Cllr Tim Leaver (Deputy Leader) moved, and Cllr Ergin Erbil (Leader of the Council) seconded, the report.

Cllr Tim Leaver introduced the report of the Council’s General Fund revenue budget for 2025/26 along with the Council’s revised 5-year Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) covering the period 2025/26 to 2029/30. The proposals were the culmination of the 2025/26 budget planning programme and for delivery of manifesto commitments. The Council would be setting a balanced budget which was prudent and resilient. The increase in spending from 2024/25 to 2025/26 was highlighted. Bridging of the budget gap was emphasized, including three tranches of savings, additional income, and seeking additional financial support. An additional £10m would be raised by the Council Tax increase.

The Opposition expressed their concerns in respect of raising of taxes, fees and charges and proposed cuts to services for residents. Money continued to be spent on external consultants and solicitors, and on Civic Centre refurbishments but not being put towards keeping open essential services such as the libraries. The Administration’s manifesto commitments were not being kept. Warnings in respect of borrowing and debt servicing had not been heeded. There were concerns regarding the level of reserves. Residents had made their top issues known during the consultation but had been ignored. The balanced budget was dependent on in-year savings, which were known to be rarely achieved.

A procedural motion was moved by Cllr Bektas Ozer and seconded by Cllr Chris Dey under paragraph 13.20 (viii) of the Council’s Procedure Rules to extend the meeting for 30 minutes and was AGREED.

The report recommendations were agreed following a recorded vote (as required by law) detailed below:

For (30):

Cllr Abdul Abdullahi

Cllr Josh Abey

Cllr Nicki Adeleke

Cllr Gunes Akbulut

Cllr Mahmut Aksanoglu

Cllr Nawshad Ali

Cllr Ian Barnes

Cllr Mahym Bedekova

Cllr Sinan Boztas

Cllr Alev Cazimoglu

Cllr Mustafa Cetinkaya

Cllr Hivran Dalkaya

Cllr Elif Erbil

Cllr Ergin Erbil

Cllr Susan Erbil

Cllr Margaret Greer

Cllr Ayten Guzel

Cllr Nelly Gyosheva

Cllr Ahmet Hasan

Cllr Suna Hurman

Cllr Chris James

Cllr Rick Jewell

Cllr Doris Jiagge

Cllr Destiny Karakus

Cllr Tim Leaver

Cllr Sabri Ozaydin

Cllr Bektas Ozer

Cllr George Savva MBE

Cllr Doug Taylor

Cllr Eylem Yuruk

Against (21):

Cllr Maria Alexandrou

Cllr Lee Chamberlain

Cllr Chris Dey

Cllr Hannah Dyson

Cllr Peter Fallart

Cllr Alessandro Georgiou

Cllr Pat Gregory

Cllr James Hockney

Cllr Chris Joannides

Cllr Andy Milne

Cllr Elisa Morreale

Cllr Tom O’Halloran

Cllr Paul Pratt

Cllr Michael Rye OBE

Cllr Julian Sampson

Cllr Ruby Sampson

Cllr David Skelton

Cllr Edward Smith

Cllr Jim Steven

Cllr Emma Supple

Cllr Andrew Thorp

Abstentions (1):

Cllr Mohammed Islam (Mayor)

The Council AGREED to:

i. Set the Council Tax Requirement for Enfield at £174.544m for 2025/26 as set out in the Statutory Budget Determination for 2025/26 in Appendix 20 to the report.

ii. Set the Council Tax at Band D for Enfield for 2025/26 at £1,673.64 which includes a 2.99% general Council Tax increase and a 2.00% Adult Social Care Precept and represents an increase of £1.53 per week.

iii. Note the Council will levy a Council Tax of £490.38 at Band D on behalf of the Greater London Authority which is a 4.03% increase: equivalent to an increase of £0.36 per week for a Band D property.

iv. Note that the combined increases will lead to a Band D property total of £2,164.02, a 4.77% increase on the 2024/25 level, equivalent to an increase of £1.89 per week for a Band D property.

v. Note that the 2025/26 Council Tax Base for Enfield agreed by Council on 22 January 2025 is 104,291, an increase of 1,337 on 2024/25, in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 made under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended).

vi. Note that business rates income is due to increase by £0.4m from £98.5m in 2024/25 to £98.9m in 2025/26.

vii. Note the feedback from the Budget Consultation at Appendix 17a.

viii. Note the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Meeting on 20 January 2025 following its consideration of the draft budget which are set out in Appendix 17b of this report.

ix. Agree to the proposed General Fund Net Revenue Budget of £353.669m for 2025/26. This includes savings and income proposals totalling £18.111m for 2025/26 as set out in Appendix 8.

x. Agree the use of £5.0m of earmarked reserves for 2025/26 to balance the budget pending identification of further savings.

xi. Approve the latest General Fund Medium-Term Financial Plan estimates for 2026/27 to 2029/30 set out in Table 2 and to note the estimated budget gap of £63.4m at the end of that period.

xii. Note the forecast levels of Council usable reserves as set out in Table 15. xiii. Approve the planned transfers to and from reserves in setting the budget for 2025/26 as set out in out paragraph 170.

xiv. Approve the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Policy as at Appendix 16 and to approve that any in-year changes required to the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Policy is delegated to the Executive Director of Resources in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement and reported to Cabinet in the quarterly Revenue Monitoring reports.

xv. Agree the proposed Fees and Charges set out in Appendices 11 to 15 and the continuation of the flexibility introduced in 2021/22 for these to be varied in year where appropriate.

xvi. Note the Council’s Section 151 Officer’s statutory Section 25 Statement at Appendix 1a which provides their opinion on the robustness of the budget and the adequacy of the Council’s reserves when making final decisions on the 2025/26 budget.

xvii. Agree the schools (DSG) Budget for 2025/26 as set out in paragraphs 204 to 214 and Appendix 19).

xviii. Note that an application for Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) of £30m has been made, as set out in paragraph 172 to 174 and to agree to enter into an EFS agreement for £30m on terms to be agreed by the Council’s Section 151 Officer.

xix. Note that following the decision on the EFS agreement, a revised Reserves Strategy will be presented for approval in the new financial year.

A further procedural motion was moved by Cllr Bektas Ozer and seconded by Cllr Ergin Erbil under paragraph 13.20 (viii) of the Council’s Procedure Rules to extend the meeting for 15 minutes.

A recorded vote was requested by Cllr Chris Dey on the procedural motion to extend the meeting, and another 11 members of the Council having stood in support of the request, the following votes were recorded:

For: