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Medium Term Financial Strategy and Budget 2022/23

Published: 06/07/2021

Cabinet Members will be asked to review the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and Budget 2022/23 when it meets on Tuesday 13 July.

The Council reviews and updates the MTFS annually, and in advance of planning the annual budget for the following financial year.

The MTFS forecasts the resources the Council will need to meet our ever-changing cost base for the years ahead. Refining our forecast is the first step in planning our budget requirement for the following financial year. The updated forecast shows that we are likely to have a minimum budget requirement of an additional £16.750m of revenue resources for 2022/23. 

Flintshire’s Cabinet Member for Finance, Social Value & Procurement, Councillor Paul Johnson, said:

“This is the first stage of developing our budget for 2022/23. During September and October, the Overview and Scrutiny Committees will be invited to review the cost pressures, and the opportunities for cost control and efficiency, under their respective terms of reference.

“We are all acutely aware that, after a decade of under-funding of local government, we have no cost savings of scale left and, as a Council, we have rightly stood by the principle that we will not reduce the budget for any service to the point where the service is unsafe, to do so would mean we would fail to meet our quality standards and/or fail to meet our statutory duties.”

Once this work is complete, the Council will be in a strong position to communicate to Governments, local partners and stakeholders and the public how a legal, safe and balanced budget might be achieved for 2022/23. Engagement is already taking place with the new Welsh Government through the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and separately.

Flintshire’s Chief Executive, Colin Everett, said:

“We have also taken the stance that annual rises in Council Tax should not exceed 5%. This figure should be treated as a maximum and not an entitlement to raise local income. Council Tax is at risk of becoming unaffordable for an increasing minority, and this Council believes that the responsibility for full and fair funding for local government needs to sit with Governments and not local taxpayers.”

Therefore, the Local Government Settlement for 2022/23 – set and funded by Welsh Government – will need to be sufficient.