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Agenda, decisions and minutes

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Contact: Victoria Lower
020 8726 6000 x14773  Email: 
victoria.lower@croydon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

40/21

Disclosure of Interests

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

Minutes:

There were none.

41/21

Urgent Business (If any)

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

42/21

Croydon's General Fund & HRA Budget 2021/22 to 2023/24 pdf icon PDF 624 KB

Please note that the Budget reports have been updated on Sunday 7 March 2021 and only the reports listed in the Supplementary Agenda pack should be used for this meeting.

 

Cabinet Member: Leader of the Council, Councillor Hamida Ali

Cabinet Member for Croydon Renewal, Councillor Stuart King

Cabinet Member for Resources & Financial Governance, Councillor

Callton Young

Cabinet Member for Homes & Gateway Services, Councillor Jane Avis

Officer: Interim Chief Executive, Katherine Kerswell

Interim Director of Finance, Investment & Risk, Chris Buss

Key decision: Council Tax recommendations are reserved to Council.

Housing rents and charges are Key Executive Decisions

 

Additional documents:

Decision:

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

 

RESOLVED: To recommend to Full Council to approve the following recommendations at its meeting on 8th March 2021:

 

The Revenue Budget for 2021/22 and notes the 3 Year Medium Term Financial Plan as detailed within Section 11 which is based upon the:

 

1.    Council’s request for a Capitalisation Direction of £150m covering financial years 2020/21 to 2023/24, of which a direction of up to £120m has been granted in respect of 2020/21 and 2021/22.

 

2.    A 1.99% general increase in the Council Tax for Croydon Services (a level of increase Central Government has assumed in all Councils’ spending power calculation).

 

3.    A 3.00% increase in the Adult Social Care precept (a charge Central Government has assumed all councils’ will levy in its spending power calculations).

 

4.    To note the draft GLA increase of 9.5% on the Council Tax precept for 2021/22.

 

5.    With reference to the principles for 2021/22 determined by the Secretary of State under s.52ZC (1) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended) confirm that in accordance with s.52ZB (1) the Council Tax and GLA precept referred to above are not excessive in terms of the most recently issued principles and as such to note that no referendum is required.  This is detailed further in section 3.8 of the report.

 

6.    The calculation of budget requirement and council tax as set out in Appendix C and D of the report including the GLA increase. This will result in a total increase of 5.83% in the overall council tax bill for Croydon.

 

7.    The revenue budget assumptions as detailed in this report and the associated appendices.

 

8.    The programme of revenue savings, income and growth by department for Financial Years 2021/22 to 2023/24 (as set out in Appendix A of the report).

 

9.    The Capital Programme as set out in Section 18, table 17 and 18 of the report, except where noted for specific programmes, are subject to separate Cabinet reports.

 

10. To agree that in light of the impact on the Council's revenue budget no capital contractual commitment should be entered into until a review of revenue affordability has been concluded.

 

11. To approve that any receipts that come from the Council’s company Brick by Brick will first be applied to the accrued interest and any subsequent receipts will be used to pay down the principle loan balance.

 

12. To note there are no proposed amendments to the Council’s existing Council Tax Support Scheme for the financial year 2021/22.

 

13. The adoption of the Pay Policy statement at Appendix G of the report.

 

RESOLVED: To agree

 

14. The Housing Revenue Account’s 2021/22 Budget as detailed within section 19 of the report.

 

15. A rent increase for all Council tenants for 2020/21, in line with the Government’s social rent policy which has legislated to increase social rents by CPI + 1%, which is equal to 1.5%.

 

16. 2% increase to the service  ...  view the full decision text for item 42/21

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Hamida Ali) noted that a huge moment in the council’s financial recovery took place on Friday 5 March 2021 when a letter was received from the Minister for Regional Growth & Local Government, Luke Hall which set out the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government offer for a capitalisation direction. The offer included up to £70 million for 2020/21 and up to £50 million for 2021/22 which had reflected the council’s request. The council’s further request for 2022/23 had not been awarded as the Government had been clear that it was not awarding applications for funding beyond 2021/22.

 

It was stated that the letter from the Minister was included as an appendix to the report and that the council had responded to confirm that it accepted the offer and the attached conditions. The conditions, the Leader confirmed were principally that the funding for 2021/22 would be performance related following consultation with the Improvement & Assurance Panel and good progress against the Croydon Renewal Plan. An additional condition on the agreement was that any additional borrowing that the council may seek to obtain from the Public Works Loan Board would be charged at the premium rate of an additional 1%.

 

The Leader stated that the offer from Government was a positive decision for the council and reflected the government’s confidence that the council not only understood its situation but that it had the resolve to address the situation with a clear plan in place. The Leader thanked officers from across the council who had been involved in developing the submission and the Interim Chief Executive who had led on it. That work, the Leader noted had enabled Cabinet to recommend a balanced budget to Council later that day and would enable the council to lift the Section 114 Notice. However, the council would retain some of the controls associated with the Section 114 Notice to support the delivery of the budget.

 

It was  recognised that significant discipline would be required to deliver the budget and the required savings and that work would be necessary across the council. Whilst there were areas of growth within the budget to support vital services, £80 million of savings were required by the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).

 

The Interim Chief Executive (Katherine Kerswell) thanked the Leader for her kind words and recognition of the work of officers across the council since September 2020. A submission to government had been made in December 2020 and a further submission had been made in January 2021 to provide additional requested information. The Interim Chief Executive advised Members that officers had been working incredibly hard, but confirmed that it was the view of the council’s management team that receiving the letter was only the first step in delivering the budget for 2021/22. Officers were committed to ensuring that the council lived within its means and delivered the Croydon Renewal Improvement Plan.

 

The Interim Director of Finance, Investment & Risk and Section 151 Officer (Chris  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42/21

43/21

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

 

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

Minutes:

This item was not required.