Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member: Finance, Property and Transformation

Forward Plan Ref: 2025/015

Contact:  Kathy Wilcox, Head of Corporate Finance

Kathy.wilcox@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Report by Executive Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

a)    Note the report and the starting point for the 2026/27 budget;

b)    Approve a five-year period for the medium-term financial strategy to 2030/31 and ten-year period for the capital programme to 2035/36; and;

c)    Note the budget and business planning process timeline and next steps, including the late announcement of the outcome of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation and the potential impact on funding over the medium term;

d)    Note the requirement for the council to set a sustainable balanced budget for 2026/27 which shows how income will equal spending plans.

Recommendations approved.

Cabinet had before it the Budget and Business Planning Report covering the period 2026/27 to 2030/31, with a capital programme extending to 2035/36. It outlined the council’s financial strategy, budget assumptions, funding outlook, and the process for setting a balanced budget amid significant financial uncertainty and reform in local government funding.

Councillor Dan Levy, Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Transformation, presented the report.

Cabinet noted the report and initial position for the 2026/27 budget and approved a medium-term financial strategy covering five years (up to 2030/31) and a capital programme extending ten years (to 2035/36). Members acknowledged the budget and business planning timeline, next steps, and possible effects of a delayed Fair Funding Review 2.0 outcome.

Councillor Levy moved and Councillor Fawcett seconded the recommendations and the were approved.

RESOLVED to:

a)    Note the report and the starting point for the 2026/27 budget;

b)    Approve a five-year period for the medium-term financial strategy to 2030/31 and ten-year period for the capital programme to 2035/36; and;

c)    Note the budget and business planning process timeline and next steps, including the late announcement of the outcome of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation and the potential impact on funding over the medium term;

d)    Note the requirement for the council to set a sustainable balanced budget for 2026/27 which shows how income will equal spending plans.