Issue - meetings

Prior to consideration of the report the Section 151 Officer & Director of Finance provided an update to Members having received the final Local Government Settlement from Government which confirmed:

·       The Council Tax report was based on the approval of the Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) report which was considered by Council in January 2026.

·       The MTFP figures had been based on the Government’s provisional finance settlement and as Members were previously advised there was a chance that the government had made an error this year in relation to the business rates pooling income which would lead to a revision of income in the final settlement.

·       This error was corrected by Government in the final settlement which meant a reduction in income for all years for Bolsover District Council.

·       Government was providing a grant for 2026/2027 which compensated for the  reductions in revenue support grant and income protection, but there was a loss of £725k in business rates which would not be compensated for.

·       This compensatory grant would only apply for the 2026/2027 financial year, so the reductions in income for future years compared to what was originally in  the MTFP would now be £2.1m for 2027/2028; £2.4m for 2028/2029 and £1.6m for 2029/2030. 

·       It was proposed to fund these losses from the National Non-Domestic Rates Growth Protection Reserve, so there would be no change overall to the bottom line of the MTFP.

·       Previously, it was predicted that there would be a balance of £16.9m in the reserve by the end of this financial year, and in the original MTFP this figure would not have changed by the end of the final year of the plan. However, taking account of the changed Government settlement, these figures were updated and it meant that by the end of the MTFP a balance in the reserve of £9.1m was predicted. This may change next year if a further grant for 2027/2028 was announced as part of the 2027/2028 settlement.

·       An updated MTFP report would be submitted to Council in May for approval.

Councillor Moesby, Portfolio Holder for Resources then presented the report which set out the proposed level of Council Tax for 2026/27.  Members were reminded that the Bolsover District share of the Council Tax was agreed at the January 2026 meeting at the maximum allowed for a Band D property.  This report included the increases for the remaining precepts for the Council Tax as detailed in the report.

The Localism Act 2011 required the billing authority to calculate a Council Tax requirement for the year.  The approved demand on the Collection Fund for the Council should be £5,087,952.  The Council had received all parish precept demands which totalled £5,395,398.45 so the total demand on the Collection Fund 2026/27 would be £10,483,350.45.

In order to calculate the Council Tax requirement for the area at the relevant bands, the demands of the County Council, Police Authority, Fire Authority, and Parish Councils also needed to be taken into account.  The Council had received all the relevant precept  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87