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Medium Term Financial Plan 2008 - 2011

Introduction

The Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) sets out the Council’s strategic approach to the management of its finances and presents indicative budgets and Council Tax levels for the medium term. 

 

It covers the General Fund Revenue Account, the Housing Revenue Account and the Capital Programme, and includes grant funded projects.  It also comments on the significant risks facing the Council in the forthcoming years and explains what the Council is doing to reduce those risks.

 

The Medium Term Financial Plan can not exist in isolation; the costs of the Council are driven by the broad range of services it provides and statutory activities that it undertakes and so linkage to the Council’s business planning activity is fundamental to its development so that the MTFP represents a robust model of the financial requirements of the Council for its planned levels of service delivery in the medium term.  As a result, the Council can look to the future in the knowledge that its Corporate Plan and individual Service Plans are able to be adequately resourced.

 

The principles outlined within this Plan have been used to develop the Council’s budgets for 2008/09 and enable financial projections to be made for the following two years. However, no environment remains static, not least that of a Council following a rigorous improvement programme, and so this document will be reviewed annually, to reflect new developments and changes both to internal policies and practices as well as in the external environment. 

 

The previous Medium Term Financial Strategy, which covered the years 2007 to 2011, identified substantial budgetary shortfalls that were predicted based on the factors at play at the time of its development.  This revised version, reports on the steps that have been taken since the last report, and provides an updated position in respect of the future financial health of the Authority.

 

The Three-Year Financial Strategy

In order to be able to deliver the Council’s aspirations as set out in its Corporate Plan, meet its statutory responsibilities, and at the same time be attentive to the needs of its communities, the Council must take a very proactive approach to managing its resources effectively so that it can adequately fund its business plans yet keep Council Tax increases as low as possible.  The Medium Term Financial Plan is seen as a key tool for proactive financial management.  It is used as the basis of the annual budget setting process to ensure that the Council’s resource needs for the forthcoming year are sufficient and aligned to the correct services; but also allows for future projected funding requirements to be identified far enough ahead so as to be able to take appropriate action to deal with any anticipated funding shortfalls.

Separate three-year plans have been developed that accord with the respective budget strategies for each of the Council’s separate financial accounts, namely; the General Fund Revenue and Capital Accounts and the Housing Revenue Account.  The objective of which is a safe and sustainable budget that will deliver the aspirations of the Council over the medium term. 

 
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