Issue - meetings

Report number:     CAB/WS/24/008

Portfolio holder: Councillor Diane Hind

Chair of the Committee: Councillor Peter Armitage

Lead officer: Rachael Mann

Recommended to Council: (20 February 2024)

That the Treasury Management Report (December 2023), as contained in Report number FRS/WS/24/001, be approved.

(Report number CAB/WS/24/008)

The Cabinet considered this report, which was recommending to Council, the approval of the Treasury Management Report from 1 April 2023 to 31 December 2023.

Councillor Diane Hind, Portfolio Holder for Resources, drew relevant issues to the attention of Cabinet.  The total amount invested as at 31 December 2023 was £55,750,000.  Interest achieved in the first nine months of the financial year amounted to £2,083,152.79 against a budget for the period of £536,250.  This had created a budgetary surplus of £1,546,902.79 due to two main reasons:

-      The Council holding higher levels of cash balances than anticipated.

-      The rising Bank of England base rate having a knock-in effect on investment returns.

External borrowing as of 31 December 2023 was £9,500,000, a reduction of £250,000 from 1 April 2023 which related to the repayment plan for the recent Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) £10 million, 40-year loan, with the Council’s level of internal borrowing being £47,604,200 as of 31 December 2023.  The overall borrowing total of both external and internal was expected to increase over the full financial year.

Recommended to Council (20 February 2024):

That the Treasury Management Report (December 2023), as contained in Report number FRS/WS/24/001, be approved.