Content

Agreed
to provide for £35m of investment (Section 9),
including:
 
·       
£22m relating to increasing costs arising from
demand and inflation
·       
£9m in relation to capital investment
financing
·       
£1m for Freedom Pass.
 
Noted
the decision taken by Cabinet on 18th
February to agree £7.1m of new savings / income proposals for
2026/27 increasing to £8.2m in 2029/30 (Section 10 of the
report)
 
Noted
that the report incorporates the details of the
Council Tax Base set, which includes the Local Council Tax Support
and maximises second home and Long Term
Empty Homes premiums (Section 8.27 to 8.31 of the
report).
 
Noted
the decision taken by Cabinet on 18th
February to agree new fees and charges for 2026/27 (Appendix
C).
 
Noted
the schedule of fees and charges rates for 2026/27
(Appendix D) being agreed under delegated authority.
 
Agreed
the proposed Medium Term Financial Strategy 2026/27
to 2029/30 as set out in this report and subsequently recommend to
Council for approval:
 
·       
the MTFS as per this report
·       
that the borough element of council tax is raised
by:
 
o  
2.00% adult social care precept
o  
2.99% main council tax rate
·       
a balanced budget for 2026/27
 
Noted
the decision taken by Cabinet on 18th
February to agree to utilise the Crisis Resilience Fund, in line
with Government guidance (Section 8.62 to 8.77 of the report),
specifically
 
·       
To approve the allocation of £4.034m per year
(after the housing element) for the period 1st April 2026 –
31st March 2029 for the Department for Work and Pensions’
Crisis and Resilience Fund as follows:
o  
£1.1m per year towards the crisis payments
strand, which will cover elements such as funding towards the
Emergency Support Scheme, Council Tax Hardship Fund, Targeted
payments, and school uniform grant provision.
o  
£2.2m per year towards the resilience strand,
which cover elements such as in-house advice provision, the advice
hub programme, and expanding the family financial resilience
programme including,
§ 
the following direct grants for the advice hub
programme for the period 1st April – 30th June
2026
v£28,750 to Greenwich Citizens Advice Bureau (company
registration number 03346379)
v£27,600 to Greenwich Housing Rights (company registration
number 01874645)
v£3,500 to Greenwich Cooperative Development Agency
(registered society number RS007029)
§ 
that an open tender process will commence to award
advice provision contracts to support the advice hub programme from
1st July 2026 – 31st March 2029.
§ 
to award the following direct grants to supplement
and expand the GLA’s existing family financial resilience
programme for the period 1st July 2026 – 31st December
2027,
v£172,500 to London Citizens Advice Ltd (company
registration number 15785714, registered charity number
1209126)
v£178,500 to London Legal Support Trust (company
registration number 04930926, registered charity number
1101906)
o  
£0.4m per year towards the community level
support strand, which covers crisis navigator provision in food
back/club settings, ambient food programme, and a community grants
scheme.  As part of this funding
allocation,
§ 
a direct grant for the ambient food project of
£0.15m per year will be allocated for each of the 2026/27,
2027/28, 2028/29 financial years to Greenwich Co-operative
Development Agency (GCDA) (registered society number
RS007029).
§ 
an open tender process will commence to award advice
provision contracts to provide crisis navigator provision in food
bank and food club settings from 1st July 2026 – 31st March
2029.
§ 
To note the creation of a Greenwich Supports
community grants programme in 2026/27.
·       
To note that the administrative costs for
disbursement and management of the fund will use the remaining
balance of the fund.
·       
To delegate decisions to vary the amounts allocated
when required to the Director of Resources, in consultation with
the Cabinet Lead for Inclusive Economy, Business, Skills and
Greenwich Supports, to enable the grant to be responsive to
emerging demands over the three year
grant period.
 
Noted
that (subject to agreement by the Pension Fund
Investment & Administration Panel) (section 9.25-9.27 of the
report):
 
·       
the councils pension fund is now 118%
funded
·       
an ongoing saving of around £3.4m per year
will arise from a reduction in future pension costs and a further
time limited saving is generated, as a result
of the surplus.
 
Noted
that the impact of over a decade of government
austerity has led to the council facing more than £150m of
pressures over that period, when combined with huge demographic
demands and price inflation it is continuing to provide significant
challenges in order to set a balanced
budget for each financial year (Section 4 of the
report).
 
Noted
the impact of the Government’s Financial
Settlement and related developments around the MTFS (Section 8 of
the report):
 
·       
the Chancellor announced a three-year Settlement for
2026/27 through to 2028/29, which allows certainty for a period and
more strategic / financial planning
·       
a continuation of the break from the London wide
Business Rates pooling arrangement for 2026/27
·       
the Schools funding
position
 
Noted
the decision taken by Cabinet on 18th
February to agree to create a risk reserve facility to support the
mitigation of risks associated with the impact of changing
circumstances upon the MTFS across the three
year settlement period (section 10.3 of the
report).
 
Noted
a forecasted overall resourcing gap for 2027/28 of
£35m, rising to £101m by 2029/30 (Section 15 of the
report).
 
Noted
at the time of writing that this is subject to the
Financial Settlement being agreed to by Parliament (Section15 of
the report).
 
Noted
the outcome of the results of the public
consultation which closed on 24 December 2025 (Section 17 of the
report).
 
Noted
that the MTFS is a continuous process and will be
updated in Summer 2026.
 
Noted
that it shall have regard to the s151 / Chief
Finance Officer’s statement in Section 16, as required under
s25(2) of the Local Government Act 2003, when making decisions in
this report.