Issue - meetings

Report by Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance, Property and Resources to update cabinet on the latest position regarding the Leicester and Leicestershire Business Rates Pool and the funding allocated to the Council for the period 2020/21 to 2023/24

Cabinet:

1.     NOTED the allocation of funding for the period 2020/21 to 2023/24 which, after allowing for interest paid, would be allocated to the Corporate Priorities Reserve.

2.     AGREED that authority be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with Leader of the Council, to exercise the Council’s vote in reaching agreement for the allocation of funding for 2024/25 and future years.

3.     AGREED that authority be delegated to the Director for Corporate Services, in conjunction with the Leader of the Council, to make any future amendments to the pooling agreement.

The Director for Corporate Services introduced the report, the purpose of which was to update Members on the latest position regarding the Leicester and Leicestershire Business Rates Pool and the funding allocated to the Council for 2020 to 2023/24.

The Director for Corporate Services highlighted to members that the distribution of the funding to each member of the pool has been agreed as a three-way split between the County, City and Districts and then a hybrid model of distribution across the districts.

The final figures for distribution would be dependent on the final position post audit for each of the members of the pool. It is hoped that provisional amounts can start to be distributed, at least for the earlier financial years, in the coming weeks.

The funding would need to be used for economic priorities and due to prior years’ spending in this area, would be likely to exceed this amount. The funding, when received, would be allocated to the Corporate Priorities Reserve for future consideration for spend as part of the budget process.

Discussions are ongoing regarding future years’ allocations and, therefore, delegation is requested to enable this to be finalised by officers in consultation with the leader.

The Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance, Property and Resources thanked the Director for Corporate Finance for the report and the work that had been done. It showed a good example of how the business rates partnership can support the development of new Corporate strategy going forward and how important it is to work with partners for continuance of the pooling. The Portfolio Holder encouraged the officers to continue the good work they have done in this area.

The Leader thanked the Director for Corporate Services for an excellent report.

Cabinet:

1.     NOTED the allocation of funding for the period 2020/21 to 2023/24 which, after allowing for interest paid, would be allocated to the Corporate Priorities Reserve.

2.     AGREED that authority be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with Leader of the Council, to exercise the Council’s vote in reaching agreement for the allocation of funding for 2024/25 and future years.

3.     AGREED that authority be delegated to the Director for Corporate Services, in conjunction with the Leader of the Council, to make any future amendments to the pooling agreement.

Reasons for Recommendations:

To ensure there is transparency regarding the funding received by the council through the distribution of the Business Rates Pool.

To enable sufficient flexibility to vary the Business Rates Pooling Agreement going forward by delegating this to an officer in consultation with the Lead member.