The Portfolio Holder for Corporate Support presented a report by the Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance on the Council’s Financial Strategy 2017/18 to 2019/2020 and provided an update on the Council’s proposals to manage its financial position for 2017/18 and beyond.

RESOLVED:

a.    That the use of Core Grants and other short and medium term resources to provide a balanced budget for 2017/18 and reduced funding gap in 2018/19 (as set out in Table 3) be agreed and recommended to Council

b.    That it be noted that to achieve a balanced budget without further Red RAG Rated Savings proposals being implemented will require the allocation of over £34m of short and medium term proposals over two financial years which will not reduce the size of the core funding gap in future years (still requiring £28.7m of base budget savings by 2019/20).

c.    That it be noted that further work is being progressed over the next 12 months to deliver a Sustainable Business Model for the Council to close the Core Funding Gap and deliver a financially self-sufficient Council in the medium to long term.